Harry Potter and The House of Urien
by The Tyrant Mister X
Summary: When the son of a Knight of The Round Table, Arthur Noctis Urien is offered a dual-teaching job alongside Remus Lupin, he is finally introduced to the Boy-Who-Lived. With the direct descendant of a Knight of the Round Table at his side, events at Hogwarts will be changing, and they will be changed for the better. AU, HP/DG
1. Chapter 1

_Chapter 1: The House of Urien_

 _ **A/N:**_

 _ **I've had an idea or baseline for a story about Harry Potter for ages now, and now is the best time to start writing it. Basically, I'll be taking one of the Knights of the Round Table from the Arthurian legends, Sir Urien, and be twisting his story slightly. Some other knights will be mentioned, but this will mostly focus on Urien and his direct descendants (namely his son and daughter).**_

 _ **Anyway, I'll be doing exactly what I did with my GoT story (for those who read that fic too, don't worry, the second instalment will be here soon.) So, I'll be starting with The Prisoner of Azkaban and will go from there. Things may change, things may not change, and so on and so forth…**_

 _ **Just in case:**_

 _ **Bold Italics – Inner Thoughts.**_

 _Italics – Flashbacks._

 _ **Anyway, let's begin!**_

 _ **X-X-X-X**_

 _We Live With Our Honour._

 _Those were the words of the legendary, most ancient and most noble House of Urien._

 _Some say that the House of Urien could be traced all the way back to the Arthurian Tales, with House Urien being founded by the Knight of the same name._

 _Sir Urien of The Round Table, in service to his most noble king:_

 _King Arthur Pendragon._

 _That was until the Battle of Camlaan._

 _The Battle where they lost their king._

 _The Batttle of Camlaan was a bloodbath. Thousands died on both Arthur and Mordred's sides. A waste of both Non-Magical and Magical life. Such talent wasted on a fight that was caused by a power-hungry child._

 _It was needless to say that the Houses of the Round Table despised Mordred until the end of days._

 _The House of Mordred was a house of traitors and betrayers._

 _Mordred betrayed Arthur when he was fighting the tyrannical Emperor Lucius of Rome._

 _And so Arthur turned back to fight against his son. The son that had taken his throne and his wife for his own._

 _And everyone knows how the tale goes…_

 _Mordred strikes down Arthur, only for Arthur to retake him by surprise and end his son's life._

 _Only seven men left the Battle of Camlaan, and not one of them was the great man known as King Arthur Pendragon._

 _Urien._

 _Galahad._

 _Percival._

 _Lancelot._

 _Caradoc._

 _Bors._

 _Pellinore._

 _The Knights of the Round Table were soon dissolved, and left to wonder the world of their own accord._

 _What some have not taken into account however, is that those seven members that survived the Battle of Camlaan were given unique items and abilities in return of their most noble service to the late King Arthur._

 _Urien was given the power of immortality, and as he was a Non-Magical Person, he was given the power to become one himself._

 _The seven last Knights of the Round Table had said their goodbyes, and left, never to see each other again._

 _Galahad was taken by Angels, with Percival as his witness._

 _Lancelot died of a broken heart after his king and queen died._

 _From what is known, Pellinore went mad and was never seen again._

 _Percival died of old age, thankful for living the life he lived._

 _Caradoc died just as Percival did, living happily with his wife, Guinier._

 _Bors went missing soon after the Knights of the Round Table was dissolved, never to be seen again._

 _Urien never asked and never found out what the other seven knights had gained from what had appeared to them that fateful night. He was happy with being able to wander the earth forever until the end of time. He wished to see what the future held for him and his family._

 _What follows is the experiences of Sir Urien of House Urien._

 _ **X-X-X**_

 _ **Coast of Scotland, Year 854**_

 _Urien had boarded the longship alongside his fellow Nord men and waited. He had adopted the traits of the great men that some had named 'Vikings'. Some preferred to call them raiders and thieves, and then proceeded to insult them._

 _The men and women that Urien fought with were anything but thieves._

 _The land they lived on was hardy and tough, but not inhospitable. They eked out a living, some made their living by farming and trading, some plied their trade of fighting, and if they were part of the clans that inhabited the Nordic Lands, they raided and supplied the lands._

 _Urien could not help but admire how they fought. The fought with courage, however some would call it arrogance. Large amounts of Vikings refused to wear armour, as they thought it was for the milk-drinkers that inhabited what would now be called Europe and the United Kingdom. There was a mix of blue, black and red war paint that covered the well-toned and hardened muscles of the Vikings._

" _Urien! Get up here!"_

 _Urien pushed his way through the crowd of Vikings that occupied the longship. He could see Jarl Bjorn was clinging to the bow of the longship, and in his other hand was his axe. He raised his axe in the air and gave a mighty roar._

" _Show theses cowards no mercy! Do not stay your blades! Show them how real men fight!" Jarl Bjorn yelled._

 _The Vikings behind Bjorn and Urien gave screams and roars of approval. They threw their hammers and axes into the air as well, roaring as the longship hit land. Urien turned to see three more longships carrying even more men and women to fight alongside them. Sometimes Urien wondered if he would be considered a true knight after all the raiding and pillaging he had done. Those moments had came and gone, usually coming for him whenever he knew he was going to battle once more. Urien twirled the battle-axe in his hands, waiting for Bjorn to tell him to let loose on the Scots that were attempting to defend their settlement from the Viking invaders._

 _Not that their pathetic defence would do anything to stop them._

" _Bjorn, you called for me."  
_

" _You have proven yourself to me, to our people. King Haakon has told me of your intentions after this raid." Bjorn admitted, keeping his eyes on the settlement as his forces pushed deeper._

" _Yes, My Jarl, I wish to leave. It is not my intent to dishonour you or our people. I wish to travel the world, to see what it has to offer. Who knows, I may end up travelling back here after I have considered my travelling days over."_

" _None of the 'My Jarl' shit. Call me Bjorn, you have earned the right now. I may not be happy about you leaving my clan, and after so long as well, but King Haakon has told me there is no way to stop you."  
_

" _I must apologise." Urien said._

" _Do not. This will be your last raid with us tonight, now go, enjoy it."  
_

 _Urien threw his battle-axe over his shoulder and began to charge to the small little settlement. Some would say it was a little too much to take just one small settlement on the coast of Scotland, but it would be a staging point for further raids in the future, raids of which Urien would most definitely not be a part of._

 _Urien spotted one warrior charging him with a mace, yet he clearly was not trained with his weapon. He swung violently and off-target, leaving his stomach exposed._

 _Big mistake._

 _Urien hefted his axe in an underarm swing, and lodged it deep into the man's gut. Blood gushed and oozed out of the man's stomach like gore-riddled river. He tore the axe out of the man's gut and swung it again through his neck, separating his head from the rest of his neck. He kicked the man out of the way before going on to the next._

 _He hefted his axe above his head and threw it, and it landed in the next man's lungs as he collapsed to the floor, bleeding to death._

 _One man took to believing that without a weapon, Urien was defenceless, however he was severely mistaken. Urien barely missed the steel as it slithered through the air before punching the man who swung in his throat, wrenching the sword out of the man's grasp before thrusting the same sword into his throat._

 _Urien then noticed that one three men were giving Bjorn a spot of bother, and decided to do something about it. He launched himself to the furthest attacker, sticking the blade hilt-deep in the man's skull, taking the man's dagger and shoving it in the spine of the next man before slitting his throat and stabbing him in the lung, leaving the dagger entrenched in the assailant's flesh._

 _The last man had Bjorn on his last legs, forcing the old Jarl down to the grass as his dirk was getting closer and closer to Bjorn's throat. As soon as Urien saw this, he threw his arm forward, but he did not touch the assailant. Urien lifted his arm forward, and the man was slowly lifted up into the air. Urien used his other hand and grasped something inside the man's flesh, and soon enough, there was a shower of blood and bone that covered Urien all over._

 _The man's spine had been ripped out in front of everyone, and soon the Vikings had taken advantage of this. They burnt down huts, killed men, carried off the women and children to work as slaves. As the man who had his spine went into shock, Urien took the spine and wrapped it around the man's throat and twisted._

 _Urien looked at Bjorn, and Bjorn gave him a sadistic grin. "I thought it was my time there, Urien."  
_

" _Not yet it seems, Bjorn." Urien smiled back, patting him on the shoulder._

" _You must tell me how you do that."_

" _A gift from the gods." Urien mused._

" _I'm sure it is. Fine, don't tell me."_

 **X-X-X**

 _Soon the raid was over, and the camp for the Vikings was established. The dead warriors were thrown into the ocean and swept away by the violent currents. It was a better fate than they deserved, at least that was what the other raiders said, but it did not matter what happened to the corpses. Urien had seen worse than that. Urien had seen walls and walls of dead and desecrated bodies during large battles. He had seen plague-ridden corpses flung over city walls to prevent sieges._

 _Men were violent beings, that was what the general consensus was in Urien's head._

 _And after a few more weeks with the Nordlings, Urien took a horse to the bottom of what would now England and travelled the mainland, and even further…_

 _ **X-X-X**_

 _Some said that Urien was spotted in the East, training with men who carried weapons like 'katanas' and 'naginatas' and other weapons that had never been seen before._

 _He braved the harsh winter wastelands of what would now be considered Siberia._

 _He returned, and became a member of what is known as the Roman Empire._

 _Urien was the most well-travelled the man in the world. He lived through centuries and met some of the most famous minds the world has ever seen._

 _Galileo._

 _Aristotle._

 _And encountered some of the greatest works by people such as:_

 _Ptolemy._

 _Archimedes._

 _Plato._

 _And met the worst people the world has had to offer._

 _Adolf Hitler._

 _Josef Stalin._

 _Ghengis Khan._

 _The Caliphate that destroyed Alexandria._

 _Exploring the world had taken it's toll on Urien, and soon he had decided to call it off. He had travelled to far-away countries and seen ancient dynasties rise and fall. He had seen the world tear itself apart, he had seen attempts at mass genocide for no reason other than scapegoating._

 _The world disgusted him._

 _He travelled back to England and settled down in London. He had a wife, and he started a family. Sadly, not every single son and daughter lived to see the world like he had._

 _His first son, Robert, was a British soldier during the First World War. He died in 1917._

 _His second son, William, went travelling the world, only to die when his ship was sunk in 1923._

 _His first daughter, Anastasia died when she was young in the year 1919._

 _His second daughter, Lunafreya, still lived, caring for her father._

 _His third daughter he named in honour of his queen, Guinevere, and she became quite the witch in Magical Britain. She was a master alchemist and potion brewer, and became very well-known._

 _However, it was his third son, Arthur, that gave him the most pride. He honoured the House of Urien with his very presence. With the help of Urien himself, Arthur became the face of House Urien._

 _Coming from Urien himself, Arthur was House Urien._

 _However, fate was a cruel mistress._

 _In the year of 1993. The noble Sir Urien had his immortality taken away from him, and he slowly passed away, the only people to witness were Arthur, Lunafreya, and their mother, Celestine._

 _In Magical Britain, there was an outcry of public sympathy for the House of Urien, as the world said goodbye to one of the last reminders of where Magical Britain originated faded away, lost forever. Light and Dark families came to pay their respects to the last Knight of the Round Table._

 _And the funeral of Sir Urien is where the story begins._

 **X-X-X**

 **Reddington Manor, Seat of House Urien, 25th of August**

Arthur Noctis Urien was stood outside of his room on the balcony, accompanied by a tumbler of Jack Daniels. It had been a cruel twist of fate to see his father die, to see the man who he had worshipped ever since he was a child be taken from him in such a way. Arthur was only twenty-nine years old, and he had seen the world, but nowhere near as much as his father had done.

He would have been jealous, but he was not a child. He was a Lord of an Ancient and Noble House. There was no place for jealousy or envy. Besides, he had made a name for House Urien. His father and himself had metaphorically broken their backs doing it, but it paid off. They were wealthy, but they were not ignorant of those who were not as lucky as they were.

 _ **We Live With Our Honour? My father was the most honourable person I know, and whoever did this too him did not care. Where is the honour in taking an old man away from his family?**_

Arthur swirled the whiskey, nursing it before finished it off. He took the bottle and refilled it, downing the glass of whiskey once more. Just as he finished, his elder sister, Lunafreya Ignis Urien entered, scowling at Arthur as soon as she spotted the whiskey beside him.

"Arthur, I know how much Father meant to you, but we cannot dishonour him with all these people here! All of the Ancient and Noble families have come to pay their respects to Father! Have some dignity, if not for me, then for Mother and Father." Lunafreya scolded, snatching the glass and bottle away from Arthur, placing it on his bedside table.

"Luna, you were there with him when he went. Tell me what you saw." Arthur ordered.

"There was this bright light, and there was a voice, it was a woman, I could tell. I never got a name, but she told Father that his time on this earth had come to an end, and she thanked him for his service. Then she placed her hand on Father's cheek and Father went pale and…."

Lunafreya never finished her sentence, and she soon begin to sob quietly into Arthur's suit jacket as he clung to her in a tight hug. She wore an elegant white dress, and she had been trying to keep herself from crying all day ever since the day had started. Sir Urien was to be cremated on the grounds of Reddington Manor. Lunafreya continued to cry into Arthur's shoulder, and Arthur let out a few tears himself, but he wiped them away.

He would be strong, if not for himself, for Luna and Mother.

As soon as he had wiped his tears away, his mother had walked into his room, clearly looking for both Arthur and Lunafreya. She was wearing black leggings and black long-sleeve shirt with a black and red waistcoat over it. She held herself together, but when she first found out, Celestine Kenway-Urien had broke down into sobs and cries. There was nothing that Arthur or Lunafreya could do to console her. She had lost children, and now she had lost her husband after years and years of a wonderful marriage. Arthur considered it a blessing that he entered her room every day to see that she was crying, yet still alive. He could not blame her if she used the Killing Curse on herself. If he was in her shoes, he might well have done it.

"Luna, my sweet little dove. Come here." Celestine said, prying Lunafreya away from Arthur and taking her into his grasp.

Arthur did not want to see Lunafreya self-destruct, he could barely keep himself together, let alone try and keep someone else from breaking down. He hated witnessing the sight of tears, especially on someone who meant so much to him. He remembered when he first asked his mother about who Robert Percival Urien was, and how she began to cry as she talked to him about his eldest brother, who died in World War One.

When Arthur realise how old his family was, it turned out to be that although nobody had ever received the immortality that Urien had been gifted, they had been given the gift of staying younger for longer. Questions had been asked about his mother's real age, but nobody really knew, even Arthur never knew, and he did not want to ask. She looked barely fifty, but still Arthur never asked.

After all, it would be rude to ask a lady how old she was.

Arthur took a look at his room, and how dishevelled it really looked. The room was dark, with a few solitary candles lighting the room. Arthur prided himself on keeping himself organised, but that pride had gone as soon as he had five empty bottles of whiskey next to him on his bedside table. The white and blue paint looked as if it was peeling off the walls, and the mansion itself looked as it was haunted.

It wasn't, it just looked as it was. In reality, Arthur needed to give it a clean, but the house elves would do that.

Very suddenly, he felt a pinching feeling on his left shoulder. Arthur turned to see his familiar perched on his shoulder. The crow he had affectionately named Pincher had began to peck at the wild strings of fabric that had come loose on Arthur's jet black suit. Arthur took to stroking the bird's beak as he Lunafreya slowly began to stop weeping.

"Arthur, be a dear and look after our guests downstairs. I believe the Malfoys may be here soon."

"Oh, how lovely." Arthur replied glibly.

"I know how much you and your father despised Lucius Malfoy," Celestine sniffled when she brought her husband up. "But just swallow your anger for a moment and look after them. Narcissa is not that bad."

"'Narcissa isn't that bad' she says. She married Lucius Malfoy didn't she?"

"Because of a damned marriage contract!"

Celestine began to glare at Arthur, and then directed him to the door so he could look after the men and women who had come to pay their respects. Pincher soon flew off to his perch inside Arthur's room, deciding to pick food over people, which Arthur had suspected. He was soon accompanied by his father's familiar, Onyx the wolf. Arthur had no idea why the lonely familiar had stayed with his family, but he had clung to Arthur for dear life as soon as Urien died.

He arrived at the double stair case. Arthur looked over the railings to see the entrance hall of Reddington Manor. Between the two curving staircases, there was a stone-carved fountain, that shown the elegance and wealth of the House of Urien. The fountain was Arthur's idea, he wanted to redecorate the manor and so it looked at least somewhat up to date. His father agreed, but said it looked a tad expensive.

Not that expenses mattered to them. If Arthur were to go to Gringotts and get a statement, he would not be surprised if the vaults held millions upon the millions. Arthur sighed, he did not want money, he wanted his father. He wanted someone to hug him and tell him everything would be alright.

But that would never happen.

He took a look at Onyx, and the grey-black wolf stared back at him with his pale yellow eyes. Onyx then proceeded to nudge Arthur's hand with his mouth, and Arthur began to stroke the wolf's head as he went down the stairs to converse with the other pure-blooded wizards who had turned up to pay their respects. He could see Augusta and Neville Longbottom chatting with the head of the DMLE, Amelia Bones.

Of course, the Minister for Magic, Cornelius Fudge was conversing with Lucius Malfoy.

 _ **No surprise there, then. Fudge is probably begging Malfoy for more money…**_

Arthur had not thought that Bill Weasley would represent his house, especially as he was a very well-known and very busy curse-breaker for Gringotts. The Weasleys were a poor pure-blooded house, which was something of a rarity. Bill had decided to notice Arthur has he wandered about his domain and gave a small wave to him, which Arthur returned slightly.

Arthur hated having to socialise with the other families, not all of them but families like the Malfoys and the Goyles he could not help but despise. The waved their pure-blood status around as much as they could, and bullied smaller families who were not as rich as them. Arthur usually left it to Lunafreya or his father when it concerned alliances with other houses whilst he focused on the business, but he would have to take that as another responsibility on his shoulders.

 _ **Oh well, no difference there. I hope I do well, for our sake.**_

He noticed that Cyrus and Ophelia Greengrass had now entered. If Arthur had to pick a wizarding family that he could actually stand to talk to, it would be the Greengrasses. He went over to Cyrus and Ophelia and began to converse with them.

"Hello, Cyrus. How are you?" Arthur asked.

"I'm fine, Lord Urien." Arthur had to shudder at being called Lord Urien. "My condolences. Daphne wished to come with us, but sadly she is not well."

"It's fine, I doubt little Daphne would have anyone to socialise with, unless she wants to talk to Longbottom." Arthur said, with a small laugh.

"I think Daphne would rather have stayed than talked with him." Ophelia interjected. "How are you feeling, Arthur?"

"I'm holding up, Ophelia." Arthur said with a sigh. "Luna has taken it harder than Mother and myself. I don't think Guinevere even cares. I don't even think she knows about it."

"She should be here." Cyrus said.

"She wanted to become an alchemist, and to do that, she had to leave. It'll be nobodies fault but her own when she finds out about him." Arthur replied.

If anything, Arthur had doubted that Guinevere even cared about the family any more. She was the rebellious daughter of House Urien, and even with all the help that Lunafreya and Arthur wanted to give her, and all of the begging that Celestine had to do to keep Guinevere as part of the family, Sir Urien was adamant in disowning her. Guinevere Anarietta Urien was no longer a Urien, but was now just Guinevere Anarietta.

"That is a harsh way of looking at it, wouldn't you say?" Ophelia asked.

"That was the way that Father looked at it. It's the way I will look at it. She won't get forgiveness from me, I wanted to help her and she declined my help."

Arthur quickly used the excuse of having to socialise with the other guests so he did not have to talk about his other sibling. He felt that every time he had to mention Guinevere he would be breaking his heart all over again or banging his head against a wall. He had begged Guinevere to listen to him and Lunafreya, but she had to be the most headstrong one of the Urien children.

Needless to say that Guinevere was destined to be more than just an alchemist and potion master, Sir Urien would have made Guinevere the head of House Urien, but she did not want that honour. So it went to Arthur.

As Arthur wandered the ground floor, he noticed that Lunafreya and his mother had now recovered from their weeping, and had begun to talk to the other guests. Arthur recovered when he saw Lunafreya manage to smile at him. It would soon be time to send their father on to the other life.

Arthur doubted that his mother and Lunafreya would be able to continue after that.

As he wandered around speaking to the guests, he noticed the front door to the entrance hall open, and he saw a wizened old man, wearing a purple robes and he had a large white beard that travelled down to his chest. Arthur was not stupid, he knew who that man was, everyone knew who that man was.

It was Albus Dumbledore.

Arthur groaned, he did not want to have to deal with the man again. He had been asked multiple times by the Headmaster of Hogwarts to teach one of the roles, and it was Defence Against Dark Arts. He had been enthused at first, it sounded like fun, but he had a business to take care of, and the House of Urien needed a Lord more than ever.

The headmaster walked over to him. "Lord Urien, my deepest condolences for your loss."

"Please, Headmaster, just call me Arthur. I'm still not comfortable with being a lord yet."

"Of course, my boy. You're probably think I'm here to ask about becoming a professor, don't you?"

Arthur felt a mild probing in his head, and scowled at Dumbledore. "Don't try that with me, Albus. You know it does not work."

Dumbledore's grandfatherly smile dropped, and he turned serious for a moment. "Well, I'm not here for that. I'm here on behalf of the members of the Wizengamot who could not make it."

"I see. Well, would you like a drink?" Arthur offered him a glass of champagne, but elderly headmaster declined.

"I don't drink, Arthur. How are you, my boy?"

"I don't know how to feel about it yet, Albus." Arthur was silent for a bit. "He was my father, he was my lord, and now I have to take his place. It will be a lot different. I may not even take his place. I may let Mother take it. If Augusta Longbottom can keep that house afloat, my mother can keep this house alive too."

In reality, he was not even sure if there was anyone who even wanted to become the Lord of House Urien. It was a Most Ancient and Most Noble family, and someone would need to take charge again. If Arthur was not adamant of taking charge, he knew Guinevere would never return to take charge, Lunafreya was too young to even consider it.

So it was either Arthur or Celestine.

Arthur then felt a hand on his shoulder, and it was Dumbledore's. "Go and be with your family. Grieve, and think about everything. I know you have the House and the businesses to consider, but there will always be a place in Hogwarts for you."

"Thank you, Headmaster."

Arthur wandered back upstairs and went to his father's study, and examined some of the items that were hung upon the walls. He went over to his father's desk and examined the will that had been laid upon the desk. Arthur took the piece of paper and began to read it.

 **Son,**

 **I wish I could have said this to you in person, but it seems that was never going to happen. I wrote this in case something had happened to myself that I may never come back from. Anyway, I leave the House of Urien to you, Lord Urien.**

 **I wish I could have gone back and changed things with Guinevere, but I believe it is too late to do anything now. I have burnt that bridge and there is no rebuilding that any more. I think if Guinevere ever wants to come back or she tells you of this intent, please tell your mother and tell Guinevere that I am sorry. I was extremely stupid and stubborn in my old age.**

 **Now, I come to you and Lunafreya. I should have always paid more attention to you and your sister when you were younger, but I went wrong somewhere. I wanted you to become like me, I wanted you to succeed like me, I wanted Lunafreya to marry and have a family, I wanted you to inherit the House and become a Lord of legends, a man who led the House of Urien to greatness, like I had tried to do myself.**

 **I give you the keys to the vaults at Gringotts, they hold everything we have now and will be refilled with the profits from our businesses. I give you our properties dotted across the world, and I give you access to my personal arsenal of weapons, including wands and staffs, may they keep you safe in your future endeavours.**

 **I love you with all of my heart, son.**

 **Sir Edric Regis Urien, Lord of House Urien and Lord of Reddington Manor.**

As Arthur read the letter, he began to feel tears roll down his cheeks. He placed the letter back down on the desk, and he looked outside the glass doors at the rainy night outside the manor. He could see the funeral pyre sitting outside, with Edric Regis Urien lying peacefully as the rain began to fall. Arthur could see Dumbledore carrying a torch that had been charmed to not extinguish. He placed the torch on the pyre and waited as the pyre caught fire and soon, the body of Edric Regis Urien was naught but ashes.

"Goodbye, Father."

Arthur wandered back to his own study/bedroom, took the bottle of Jack Daniels and began to take a few small sips. He got changed and got into bed, continuously taking sips until he felt so tired and unable to move he just went to sleep.

 _ **X-X-X**_

 _ **A/N:**_

 _ **Remember to follow, favourite and review!**_

 _ **~The Real Italian Stallion~**_


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Considerations

Arthur woke up nursing a horrifyingly bad headache. It pounded and against his temples, and it made Arthur wanted to tear his head off and throw it into the ocean. He moaned and groaned as he tried to get back to sleep, but he could not even do that as Pincher the Crow begin to caw loudly on his perch next Arthur's bed. He could hear Onyx snoring lightly at the foot of his bed, and whistled quietly for Onyx to jump on the bed and lie next to Arthur. Arthur sat against the backboard of his king-size bed and refilled the tumbler again with whiskey to dull the painful migraine he was nursing in his head.

"Damn it, Father. I'm twenty-nine and you've already got me turned to the demon drink." Arthur muttered as he took a few sips of the whiskey before stroking Onyx's fur.

His father had left everything to him. His father had given him the businesses, the properties, the arsenal he had heard so much about. He had left a spot for Guinevere to return and be a part of the family again. It was astonishing that his father had actually forgiven somebody for their faults and had actually accepted the blame for something.

 _ **It sounds weird when we say it. Father forgave our dear sister? We'll have to find her.**_

 _ **No, we can't. We have Mother and Lunafreya to look after, and it's up to us to make sure House Urien continues to live on…**_

 _ **Which means marriage.**_

 _ **Which means horrifying, devilish mutants roaming the manor…**_

"You mean children?"

His mother's voice had startled him beyond doubt. Celestine was a master Legilimens, and had a talent for interrupting her son during his intense thoughts. She found it somewhat hilarious when he thought about things like marriage and children, mainly because she thought of it the exact same way before she had given birth to them. She could remember how she first held little Robert Urien in her arms, to see the snow white hair of her family resting on his head, or how he was so quiet when he was first born, never crying or screaming. She missed her sons, she missed her daughters. She missed her husband.

"I wish you would stop doing that, Mother." Arthur said, placing the tumbler on the bedside table once more.

"Are you afraid?" Celestine asked.

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Because who wants this?" Arthur pointed at himself. "Who wants the grieving and dysfunctional boy as a husband? Who would want that as a father?"

Celestine smiled. Her son had this air of confidence to him around everyone else, but when it came to herself and her son, he retreated back into his shell, he turned into a timid little creature that was afraid of his own surroundings.

"You know your father was like that at one point? He always told me 'anybody who ends up with me is the unluckiest person in the world'. I asked why and he told me of his 'immortality'. How he had seen so many people he loved die, and how he could not do a thing to stop it. He told me that I would end up like everyone else, and how your children would end up most likely as orphans or destitute. So I made him promise me that he would not leave me. I made him promise that he would look after our children. I know he may not have been the best father, and I know he may have been rough sometimes, but is what you have now better than what could have been?"

Celestine stood next to Pincher, and began to feed him seeds. The bird had become somewhat of annoyance to everyone except Arthur and his mother. Arthur was mostly forced to put up with it, because Pincher was his familiar, but he had no idea why Pincher had such a sunny disposition with his mother and nobody else. Pincher even got on Lunafreya's nerves.

"Obviously what we have now is better." Arthur replied to his mother's tale.

"Exactly, and now you are at that same point. You are thinking about how bad you would be as a husband, or how terrible a father you would be. You are much like your father in that regard. You have never thought about this in this way before, have you?" His mother asked.

"Never." 

Celestine sighed and moved closer to her son, walking over to his side of the bed and hugging him tightly. "I noticed you conversing with Albus Dumbledore last night." 

Arthur was silent for a moment. "He used the Legilimens on me."

"And?" Celestine responded.

"I threw him out. I had presumed he wanted me to go and teach at Hogwarts again, but apparently he was there on behalf of the Wizengamot members who could not come."

Celestine smirked. "I taught you well. Too well it seems considering you noticed me too." 

"You made it obvious." 

Celestine gave a small laugh, and stood up brushing herself off. She was a tall and regal woman, with the auburn hair and bright blue eyes from her mother's side of the family. She smiled at her son before handing her son a shirt. "Get ready." She said.

"What for?"

"Visitors."

"When?"

"I don't know. What I do know is that it is 2PM and your father and myself did not raise you to be layabout, now get showered, dressed and for Merlin's sake, feed your bloody crow!" She yelled humorously before leaving his room.

Arthur looked at Onyx and Pincher. Onyx was still snoozing, but his snores had become louder, and Pincher had his head cocked to the left, staring lazily at Arthur.

"What are you looking at, you overgrown dog?"

 _ **X-X-X**_

 _ **4 Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey**_

The summer was nearly over.

Those were words Harry Potter never thought he would be glad to hear. He hated having to leave the safe haven that was Hogwarts, leaving it behind in exchange for having to stay with a family that clearly did not want him and clearly hated him.

No, they did not just hate Harry, they despised him.

Every day they insulted him, openly insulted his abilities, his friends, even his own dead parents. He did nothing to stop it, all he could do was hand back a sly or sarcastic remark to Dudley or Vernon.

 _ **You can't even tell which one is which, they're both the same size at this point.**_

They treated him like he was simply there to be the slave labour. He cooked, he cleaned, he washed, he hoovered, he picked weeds and flowers out of both the front and the back garden. Yet what did he get in return?

Abuse.

When he was younger, Vernon would slap him, punch him, whip him with his belt, all because he had done something wrong, or even spoke a single word. After the first few years at Hogwarts however, all Vernon could do was insult Harry, as clearly physical abuse would have probably seen him caught by the police and sent to jail.

 _ **That is a dream I could wish was real…**_

He had wished so much bad upon the Dursleys it did not even seem real. They hated him, and he hated them back, even though they were the closest thing to a family he had. Petunia was his aunt, yet she never acted like it. She was indignant and ignorant to the abuse that Harry suffered, ignored him when he was in pain, never bothered to stop Vernon from hurting too much. Sometimes, she would even join in, heckling and insulting her own blood, her own dead sister.

His mother.

However, it all changed when 'Aunt Marge' was coming round for tea with the Dursleys.

If anything, Harry hated Marge Dursley even more than the others. She was exactly like Vernon, only even more short-tempered and lot more blunt about things. Her dog was the worst thing. Ripper the Bulldog was basically Dursley plus fur and a worse temper. When Harry was younger, Ripper had decided to chase him until Harry decided to climb up a tree where Ripper waited and waited for him to come back down so he could bite and claw at Harry all day long.

Needless to say, Harry hated them too.

 **Of course, we would not say that to their faces, that would be liable to get us kicked out.**

There was a knock at the front door, and Harry rushed from his room to open it. It would be Vernon returning with Marge to Privet Drive just in time for tea. Harry was almost squashed by the combined size of both Vernon and Marge Dursley as they barged through the front door, with Marge throwing her umbrella at Harry as soon as she entered.

Harry had his Hogsmeade papers in his hand, it would be the first time he would be allowed in the small village outside of the school, and he did not want to be denied the pleasure of it. He would practically beg Vernon to sign them, he would have kissed the fat bastard's feet if he had to get his papers signed. "Umm, Uncle Vernon?" 

"What is it?" Vernon grunted.

"I need you to sign these papers."

"Mmm… Maybe later, if you behave."

"Thank you, Uncle Vernon."

Vernon marched into the living room and took his seat opposite the old TV. Dudley sat on the couch, munching on some sweets as he watched the programs on the television. Marge had began to pester and badger him whilst Ripper had hopped onto the couch, taking his own fair share of the sweets.

 _ **Don't say a word, Harry. Stay behaved and Hogsmeade awaits…**_

 _ **X-X-X**_

Harry could only watch as the Dursleys finished off the wonderful Sunday Dinner that Harry himself had painfully gone to extreme lengths to get perfect. Of course, Vernon had taken the majority of the meats and the minority of the veg, so if he ended up having a heart attack, Harry would do nothing but laugh if the fat old man had kicked the bucket that very night.

The one person Harry could not help but look upon with disgust was Marge. She ate like a wild animal, just like Vernon, shovelling food and drink down her throat like she was possessed by some kind of demon. She finished off her plate and placed it gently down on the floor, letting Ripper lick the remaining gravy off the plate as some kind of reward.

"Would you like some brandy, Marge?" Vernon asked.

"Thank you, dear Vernon." She replied as he filled up her glass.

What Harry saw was even more disgusting. As he took the dirty plates and placed them into the sink, he saw Marge leant over in her chair towards Ripper, letting the bulldog take big slurps of the brandy for himself. Harry could only widen and wipe his eyes to make sure what he was seeing was not a dream. He sighed and went back to washing the dishes.

"What are you sighing and groaning at?" Marge glared at him as she spoke.

"Oh… Nothing." Harry quickly responded.

"Vernon, where did you send the boy?"

"Oh, we sent him to…. St. Brutus', it is a private institution for troubled children." Vernon managed to mutter.

"And do they use the cane at St. Brutus?" Marge looked expectantly at Harry.

Harry did not even realise the stare the stares he was receiving from both Marge and Vernon. Vernon made his glare even more obvious as he began to nod at Harry, as if telling him to say 'yes'.

"Oh, yeah. Yeah, I've been beaten loads of times."

Marge began to mutter and murmur towards Petunia and Vernon about how she thought beating people was the only way to go about giving punishments. Harry was not of the same mind, there was a definite difference between being beaten and being disciplined. They did not beat children at Hogwarts, as much as Harry knew, he did not know, or care what Professor Snape did to the Slytherins in his spare time. He did not really care for any of the Slytherins at all, they hated him, and he hated them equally as much.

 _ **You do realise we have only actually conversed with four of the Slytherins?**_

 _ **So?**_

 _ **Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle and Parkinson? That's four people out of seven years.**_

 _ **Again, the point?**_

 _ **I hardly think that the entire Slytherin House can be compared to four bad apples is all I'm saying…**_

Harry had been in a deep thought when he began to think like that. Was it actually possible that the majority of Slytherin were actually normal, decent people, and that Malfoy and his lot were just a very vocal minority?

 _ **It's possible…**_

He soon began to overhear what Petunia was saying to Marge again,

"Oh, what did his parents do?" Marge asked.

"Oh, they were both unemployed, and his father was drunk I believe."

"Oh, no wonder-" 

"My dad wasn't a drunk." 

There was a silence.

A complete and utter silence.

Marge glared at him, and looked as if she were going to take him over her lap and beat him then and there. Harry knew it would not happen, but he knew she wanted it to.

"I think it's time you went to bed, boy." Vernon suggested.

Marge continued to glare at him, and the glass she held in her hand began to shudder and shake until it broke inside her grasp spectacularly.

"Boy, go to your room-" 

"Quiet, Vernon, I have a very firm grip. Boy, clean this up! Hurry up!" 

As Harry began to clean up and pick up the broken glass, he was trying to keep himself calm after the comment about his father. Marge never knew him, Marge barely knew Harry himself. Who was she to call his parents layabouts? Who was she to call his father a drunk? If anything, she was calling herself, she just never realised it. She was like Vernon. All he did was go to Grunnings or wherever he worked for a few hours and sat on his fat arse for the rest of the day. Who were they to judge his family?

"Anyway," Marge began again. "It's nothing to do with the father, it's all to do with the mother."

 _ **No, she wouldn't dare. Not with Petunia here…**_

As Harry went to place the broken glass in the bin, he heard Marge continue speaking.

"If there's something wrong with the bitch, there's something wrong with the pup." She exclaimed loudly.

Harry could not take it any more. He would not allow them to speak of his parents like that.

"Shut up! SHUT UP!" 

Again, there was an eerie silence in 4 Privet Drive. After Harry's outburst, Marge looked as if she were going to leap out of her chair then and there and strangle the life out of Harry. If looks could kill, Harry James Potter would be several times dead.

"Now listen here, you little-" Before she could finish, her finger plumped up to an outrageous size.

Soon, Marge's entire finger plumped up, and then her hand, and soon enough her arms. Her legs had become even fatter, and the clothes she wore had begun to split open, with strands of cloth and fabric tearing away from each other. The buttons on her shirt and jacket began to pop off, hitting the coo-coo clock on the far wall. One button even managed to hit Dudley square in the head, throwing him to the floor for a moment.

Marge then began to move up into the air ever so slightly. The chair she was sat in began to break apart, with wooden splinters flying through the air, and another button from Marge's jacket smacked Dudley in the face, knocking him to the floor once more.

Harry could not help but laugh as the bout of accidental magic had done such a wonderful thing to his relatives. He then realised that he would probably be kicked out of his house now for the magic, and he quickly ran upstairs and then quickly packed his trunk. He took a final look outside of his window, and he tried to stifle a laugh as Marge Dursley floated through the air like a helium balloon.

 _ **I never took her for a floater…**_

Harry drew his wand, grabbed his trunk and ran down stairs. As soon as he got to the bottom, he was confronted by Vernon once more. His face was beet red, and his moustache looked as if it were going to fly off of his face at any moment.

"You bring her back! You bring her back now!" Vernon bellowed.

"No." Harry replied. "She got what she deserved. Now move." Harry pointed his wand at Vernon's face.

"You can't do magic outside of school. You won't do anything."

"Try me. Besides, you don't want me here, and I don't want to be here." 

"You have nowhere to go." Vernon smirked, almost laughing.

"Anywhere is better than here!"

Harry grabbed his trunk, ran outside and began to wander around the streets of Little Whinging. He was correct when he said anywhere was better to live than Privet Drive. He no longer wanted to live alongside people who did not love him, who did not care for him. He'd rather have lived in an orphanage, at least there he would have decent meals three times a day. He wished he could have lived with anyone, anyone would have been better than the Dursleys. He sat down on the pavement, wondering about his next plans, where would he live?

The Leaky Cauldron?

The Burrow?

He was sure that the Weasleys would let him stay with them, they were basically his surrogate family. Ron was his best mate, and Molly Weasley loved him as if he were a son of her own. He wished he actually could have had a mother. An actual mother who would comfort him, and a father who he could discuss his boy issues with. He wished he had a family.

Then it occurred to Harry that the wind had stopped howling. It was 8PM and it was nearing the Autumn, how could it not be windy? All Harry could hear was the metallic whining of the swing-set in the playground behind him. Then he heard a growl, and then silence, and then another growl. Harry looked forwards, and was slightly scared to see a rather rabid looking hound, staring straight at him, growling at him all the while.

Just as the dog looked ready to pounce on him, Harry heard a loud honk, and the dog had ran back into the bushes. A large blue triple-decker bus had appeared in front of him, and the conductor of the bus was leant lazily against the blue peeling paint of the massive bus.

"Welcome to the Knight Bus, emergency transport for the stranded witch or wizard, I'm Stan Shunpike, and I will be your conductor for the day." Stan looked down to see Harry on the pavement.

"What you doing down there?" He asked.

"Lying down." Harry responded.

"What you lying down there for?" 

"I was waiting."

"Well come on then, let's not wait for the grass to grow."

Harry quickly took his trunk aboard to the Knight Bus, and hopped aboard. He asked for a ticket to the Leaky Cauldron until he could find somewhere more permanently somewhere else. Somewhere where he felt at home.

 _ **X-X-X**_

 **Reddington Manor, Seat of House Urien**

Arthur was outside the manor, and the fresh air usually helped calm down and eased the headaches he usually nursed after a long night of self-pity and hard drinking. The moment he began to walk, Arthur felt as if he were going to cough his guts, his lungs and everything else up when he began throw up his breakfast, lunch and tea. The fields and grounds that surrounded the manor contained all kinds of magical and non-magical creatures. Arthur could remember when he used to wander the fields alongside Guinevere, and when they encountered a herd of Aethonan Winged Horses.

That, and Arthur's pathetic attempt at trying to tame one of them.

Which gave him a broken wrist for his troubles.

Since then, he had taken to taming wild magical and non-magical animals. He had even took to exploring other countries to see animals that weren't native to Britain. There was a certain Sphinx that had decided to follow Arthur all the way back from Egypt, and had made his home around the older stables that had been abandoned by Arthur's father. Instead, Arthur had taken to making a few stables for the animals that lived around the manor, and had some of the servants and house-elves see to them.

He went over to the horse stables and decided to have a ride around on his horse, Ranger. The snow white courser was a curmudgeonly beast, just like his owner, and could be rather temperamental if he wanted to be. The first few times Arthur had rode Ranger had given him a bruised collarbone after the cantankerous beast had thrown him out of the saddle. However, after the years of being a loyal mount to Arthur, the creature was finally more manageable.

"Come on, Ranger. I know you need a ride."

Arthur leapt into the saddle and took a hold of the reins, and they began at a slow canter around the manor before galloping around the fields of Reddington Manor. As they rode around the grounds, the Sphinx, Namira, had gave a loud roar, and if anyone was asleep around the grounds, they definitely would not be after that. Arthur had looked to the left of him, and Ranger had began to head left too, and they began to gallop alongside a large group of Griffins that roamed the grounds.

Surprisingly, the magical animals had somehow managed to get over the fact that other creatures roamed the grounds, in fact, they managed to co-exist quite well, with a little bit of help of course from Arthur.

"Come on, Ranger, you know you can beat them. Hyah!" Arthur roared.

The horse galloped into a full-blown sprint, and the various magical beasts began to follow them,=. Griffins, Unicorns, Winged Horses, and Hippogriffs. There was a clan of Foglets hiding in the marsh further away from the Manor, but they harmed nobody. Arthur had a particular affinity for the Cockatrice that Arthur had yet to ride upon. There was not a beast he could not tame, at least that was what he told himself. The Sphinx that lived outside the manor was more of a guest than a tamed animal, but his magical stables were his pride and joy. He enjoyed looking after the winged horses, the griffins, the hippogriffs.

Most people had normal hobbies, playing golf or painting, but Arthur was more of a magical beast tamer.

He could feel Ranger begin to tire out, and soon Arthur and Ranger had taken a slow canter all the way back to the stables in the enormous back garden of Reddington Manor. As soon as Ranger had gotten settled back into his stall, he could see Lunafreya walk outside with her familiar fox, Ash, alongside her.

"Good morning, dear sister. How are you?" 

"I'm fine, Arthur. How about you?"

"Recovering." He stated.

"Mother told me about the state you were in when you woke up."

"Horribly in pain so much so that I could barely move?" 

"Yes, exactly that." Lunafreya twirled her bright blonde hair and giggled.

Arthur had to laugh as his little sister began to giggle at his own misfortune. Arthur would not really consider it misfortune, it was more like a large mistake of drinking so much alcohol the night before. He had not really considered passing his tolerance levels for alcohol, for him, there was not really much tolerating to begin with. Arthur was in mourning, and his way of mourning was the demon drink. Lunafreya tended to her familiar for an extended period of time, and Celestine went through it by reading.

All in all, it was a common sight to see none of the Urien family after a bereavement.

"Oh, and you have a visitor. Mother told me to tell you."

"Who is it?"

"Go and find out."

With another cute giggle, Lunafreya skipped off with her fox around the grounds, and soon Arthur had gone back inside the Manor. As he took a leisurely stroll through the manor, he had finally reached the entrance to the manor, and he seen a shabbily dressed man admiring the paintings lining the walls all around the Manor. His suit was darned in several places, and also patched in several areas. He had light brown hair and his skin seemed abnormally pale.

"I like what you've done with the place." The man spoke. "It looks more modern since the last time I was here." 

"Is that you, Moony?" Arthur gasped.

"The one and only, Grizzly." The man turned, and revealed himself to be Remus John Lupin.

Remus Lupin had been an old contact of Arthur's, a close friend who would travel alongside himin his international adventures. When Lupin had finally revealed 'his furry little problem' whilst they were in Bulgaria, Arthur had promised to help him in the transformations, just like his Moony's former friends.

"How are you feeling, my old friend?" Remus asked, patting Arthur on the shoulder.

"I'm fine, Moony. How are you, how is your furry little problem?"

"I knew you would bring that up. I've began to take Wolfsbane for it. Besides, how long has it been since you've used your animagus form?"

"A few years at least." In truth, Arthur had not seen a reason to use it. He doubted that he could still become Grizzly at all.

"Oh well, nothing wrong with that other than we may have to postpone our midnight walks under the full moon."

"Oh, how I remember them all too well." 

Arthur had to laugh at those moments, when they would run through the forests of Bulgaria under the full moon. It helped Moony and it relaxed Grizzly. Not that Grizzly could relax much, he was giant Grizzly Bear, he could always enter hibernation, but that was if he really needed to. Which was almost never.

"Anyway, what are you doing here Remus?" Arthur finally managed to ask.

"I've finally managed to get a job. A job at Hogwarts."

"Really? That's great, Moony!"

"That's not all, Dumbledore told me to tell you-" 

"Told you to tell me to say 'apologies for all of the pestering'?"

"No, actually he told me to tell you that the teaching post requires two teachers. One for theory and another for practical work." Remus answered.

"The subject would not happen to be Defence Against Dark Arts?" 

"I see your mind is still very astute." Said Remus with a smile.

A lot of people told Arthur that he was a rather astute individual, or something along those lines of thinking. He was either astute, intelligent, shrewd or handsome.

 _ **Usually the last one, at least that is what the women tell me…**_

"So Dumbledore still does not want to lose the opportunity to have me teach the most cursed teaching post in Magical Britain?" Arthur had to ask.

"Correct. He seemed very desperate to have you teach that post. Is there a reason?"

"I don't know. I'd be more suited to teach Care for Magical Creatures instead of Defence. It's probably all just a mistake." 

Remus gave him the infamous thousand yard stare, and his eyes began to focus on him ever so slightly. It was always a rare occasion whenever that look was given. It usually felt cold as ice, to have such a cold glare being given to him by such a close friend. Instead, the cold glare felt more warmer than anything else. He had missed that warm feeling when he was around his close friends.

He did not have many true friends. People who did not just like or love him for his money.

"So, are you going to consider it?" Remus asked.

"Possibly, I'm Lord Urien now, and I have the businesses to look after now." 

"Yes, well, what of your mother and sister, they can look after them can't they? You can give Mrs. Urien temporary Lordship and temporary hold on the accounts can't you?"

 _ **Oh…**_

 _ **We'd never thought of that.**_

 _ **Can we call ourselves idiots yet?**_

 _ **Arthur Noctis Urien, you are a complete and total idiot.**_

Arthur was of two minds about leaving everything to his family. He was the Lord of House Urien, the owner Urien Industries and Urien Technologies, how could he leave everything to his grieving parent and sibling? He could never do such a thing to them, they deserved better than that. He could never do such a thing.

"Fine. But I may have to call on you to take over my lessons occasionally. I will not let Mother and Lunafreya put up with so much and so soon after Father's death."

"How noble of you. Just as I remember when we used to travel. Shall I tell Dumbledore about your acceptance?"

Arthur gave a little thought to it.

"No, let us make it a surprise for the old man."

 _ **X-X-X**_

 _ **A/N:**_

 _ **Here's a fresh chapter for you wonderful people.**_

 _ **And to that certain guest reviewer who I cannot reply to: I don't know much about the Vikings, however I wish I did. I apologise for my lack of knowledge in any past or future work I do. It is entirely my fault if any of my work is under the usual standard.**_

 _ **That is to say: somewhat decent.**_

 _ **~The Real Italian Stallion~**_


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: The Express

 _ **Reddington Manor**_

It had not taken long for Arthur to pack his belongings to go to Hogwarts. He was of the mind to just go straight away, but one set of clothes and no toiletries just would not do for him. He quickly packed his clothing, and some other tools. He had almost decided against taking some of his father's old weapons, but if he were going to teach Defence Against the Dark Arts, he would teach them every aspect of self-defence that he knew, magical or non-magical. Swords, axes, staffs, daggers, and everything else that his father had in his possession. Some of his items were odd, like the batons attached by a chain, but some of them held sentimental value, like his staff and wand.

Arthur took out his own wand and compared his own wand to his father's. Arthur's was a 13 inch Ebony wood wand with a Thunderbird feather as a core, in comparison to his father's 11 inch Yew and Rougarou wand.

However, the staff was extremely ornate. A shining metal staff with the head of a dragon on one end and a wolf on the other. The eyes of both animals contained beautiful sapphires, but in comparison to his own staff, it looked exactly the opposite, just like Edric and Arthur themselves. Arthur's own staff was an intricately carved oak staff with a roaring bear as the head to represent Grizzly. If Arthur was going on an adventure or some kind of expedition, Arthur would take both his wand and staff with him.

And Hogwarts always counted as an adventure.

Remus had kindly waited for Arthur to pack his bags and prepare some of equipment. Arthur had a quick shower, told his mother about where he was going and before long, Lunafreya had ran downstairs straight at her older brother.

"We've just lost Father, and we don't want to lose you too..." Lunafreya mewled.

"I know," Arthur said. "But you won't be losing me any time soon. I'll be in Scotland."

"Remus? Is that you? Really you?" Lunafreya asked, finally setting eyes on the elder man.

"You must be Lunafreya. It is a pleasure to meet you. Don't worry, Lady Lunafreya, I will keep good care of your brother." Remus replied cheerfully.

Remus had always been like that. He was always cheerful or ignorant to the anger or sadness around him, and he had always managed to keep Arthur focused when they were off adventuring and gallivanting around the globe. He kept him from thinking off the homesickness that he felt wherever they were.

"You bloody well better, Professor Lupin." Celestine warned as she walked in from the relaxation room.

"Please, Mrs. Urien, just call me Remus. Professor makes me sound old." 

"You are old." Arthur managed to mutter.

Remus and Arthur began to laugh at each other, and soon left after saying their goodbyes to Celestine and Lunafreya. Remus had to admit that when it was only Arthur, Lunafreya and Celestine, they were the perfect family, or at least that was what he thought. However, he was never going to pry about the rest of the family, lest he risk his friendship with Arthur.

The two began to walk over to the collection of cars that Edric Urien had collected from his time in past. What Edric had not told anyone is that he may or may not have broken the laws of time in his adventure. Whilst Arthur had admonished his Father for breaking the laws of time for a few bloody cars, Arthur had to admit that they looked absolutely stunning. The cars from the future included things like a Mercedes Benz, BMWs, and even a Lykan.

 _ **Whatever a fucking Lykan is…**_

Arthur had not bothered to even try any of the cars that his Father owned, he only needed one car, and that was his Regalia. At least, that is what he had taken to calling the Cadillac Ciel that his Father had so lovingly gifted to him for his eighteenth birthday. He had not particularly cared for cars, but it was the best thing his father had given him apart from his wand, and he had decided to care for the car like he cared for his creatures, like it was a real living thing.

"What in the name of Merlin is that?" Remus said as he looked at the Regalia.

"What? The Regalia?" Arthur answered back.

"You named… your car?" 

"Yes. I named my car."

"Is it a flying car?" Asked Remus inquisitively.

"No, it is a regular car, Remus." Arthur replied. "Go on, place your things in the boot and hop in." 

Arthur was not stupid enough to not magically enchant the car, it was his car. His car needed to be the best, and he needed to be noticed. People would need to know who Arthur Noctis Uriel was. He could not be seen prancing around in some sub-standard car.

 _ **No, that simply would not do.**_

Remus sat in the car and looked expectantly at Arthur. "Come on then, we can't miss the train." 

"Wait." Soon Onyx leapt into the back of the car as well, giving a loud howl before lying down in the back seat, and Pincher settled next to him, pecking and cleaning his feathers.

Remus growled at the younger man sat next to him. He heard the radio begin to turn on, and then looked at Arthur who was beginning to sing the opening line of Bohemian Rhapsody.

"Momma, just killed a man…." Arthur had the cheesiest grin on his face.

"Oh, good lord. Not again."

"Put a gun against his head…."

"Arthur, for the love of my ears, please stop!"

Arthur revved the Regalia's engine, and continued to sing. Remus continued to groan and sigh as Arthur continued to sing Bohemian Rhapsody.

"Pulled my trigger and now he's dead..."

 _ **X-X-X**_

 _ **The Leaky Cauldron**_

Harry woke up and the first thing he had began to think about was where he would live. He would not go to Privet Drive again, he outright refused to do it. He did not care what Dumbledore told him, he'd rather be mobbed by crazy fans than put up with one more insult from those horrible people that he had to call his Aunt and Uncle. No, he was better off without them. He'd find somewhere to live, he always did.

" **Tempus."** Harry whispered, and the time soon revealed itself to be 10:00

 _ **Bloody hell, I slept in. Again.**_

Harry quickly jumped out of bed and threw on a white long-sleeve shirt and some blue jeans. He packed his books into his trunk and prepared to return to Hogwarts for another year. This year would be better than normal, now that he no longer had to worry about having to go back to the Dursleys at the end of the year. No, he would find somewhere else, he was sure of it. Then again, every year at Hogwarts was better than spending a year with the Dursleys at 'St. Brutus'. Anywhere was better than Privet Drive. He would have rather slept in the bloody Astronomy Tower than at Privet Drive.

He left his room and began to go downstairs and get some breakfast from the bar. He knew Tom the Barkeep relatively well, so he did not have to worry about the awkward socialising. He heard a loud howl, and then the housekeeper marched away half-heartedly away from the room where the loud howl had came from. He then noticed the rat running down the hall and down the stairs, with a kneazle in close pursuit of the rat.

Harry decided to follow the two animals, with less gusto as he was too tired to run all the way down the stairs. As soon as he reached them and began to descend, he heard two familiar voice that were bickering, although to Harry it sounded more like an old married couple that were arguing again.

"Honestly, Ron. It's a cat, what do you expect?"

"I expect it not to be chasing my bloody rat, Hermione!"

 _ **Of course, Ron and Hermione are arguing…**_

"Hey, guys..." Said Harry.

The two teenagers stopped their arguing and turned to see their best friend standing at the top of the stairs.

"Alright, mate! How've you been over the summer?" Ron jumped on the opportunity to talk to his best mate.

"Average, just like normal. How was Egypt?" Harry replied.

"Oh, mate! Where do I start? There were pyramids, and tombs, and mummies. It was bloody brilliant."

"You do realise the Egyptians worshipped cats?" Hermione interjected.

"Yeah, along with the dung beetle."

As soon as Ron had finished his sentence, the rest of the Weasley clan had marched down the stairs. Arthur, Molly, Percy, Fred and George and Ginny who was trailing behind at the back of the pack. As soon as Fred and George caught sight of the Daily Prophet copy that featured the Weasleys on the cover they begin to mock Ron again.

"You love showing everyone that, don't you?" Fred started.

"I do not!"

"Oh really?" George began. "Hermione." 

"Tom." 

"The day maid." 

"The night maid." 

"The housekeeper." 

As the Weasley Twins began to pepper Ron with mockery, Harry had gone over to Molly and Arthur to introduce himself once more. As expected, Molly had taken Harry and crushed him with one of her signature hugs. Arthur was much more relaxed and contained, shaking Harry's hand before taking him somewhere where they could not be heard.

"Harry, what do you know of Sirius Black?" Arthur began.

"Not much, but the conductor on the Knight Bus said he was the first person to break out of Azkaban, than and he was on Voldemo-"

"Shh. Don't say the name. You were right though, Harry. He was a rather avid supporter of..." Arthur took a deep breath. "You-Know-Who, and he lost everything when he was gone. He was insane, always had been, and he was crazier when he was in Azkaban. I'm telling you about this because I want you and the rest of them to be safe this year. Can you promise me to stay safe, Harry?"

Harry swallowed. "Yes, Mr. Weasley. I promise." 

"Good, now go on and get some breakfast before you miss the train." 

_**X-X-X**_

"Can you go just five minutes without singing?" Remus asked.

Arthur and Remus had parked the Regalia just outside of The Leaky Cauldron. Remus had been keeping track of the time and they had more than enough to make it to the Hogwarts Express. The Leaky Cauldron looked rather full, mainly due to the massive congregation of red headed children in the middle of the room, with trunks and animals beside them.

"The Weasleys." Arthur muttered.

"You know them?" Remus asked again.

"I know their two eldest sons, Bill and Charlie. Bill is a curse-breaker and Charlie works with Dragons in Romania."

"I take it Weasley Senior works in the Ministry?"

"You would be correct, but I have not talked to him much, or his wife or other children." 

Arthur was watching with amusement as the two tallest boys, who seemed to be twins as well, began to pester and annoy their younger brother, who was stroking his pet rat.

 _ **Who the hell has a pet rat?**_

Arthur ordered a fire-whiskey and downed it quickly, in comparison to Remus who was slowly sipping at his glass of water. Arthur raised an eyebrow at that, considering that Remus was always drinking fire-whiskey when Arthur was with him.

"Not having a fire-whiskey, Remus?"

"You do realise we are teachers? We are going to have to be responsible people if we are to teach children." 

"Yes, but we aren't teaching yet."

Remus sighed, before downing the glass of water and began to stare intently at Onyx and Pincher. "May I ask why you decided to bring them with you?"

"They're my familiars."

"You can only have one familiar, Arthur."

Arthur began to pet Onyx and gave pincher a little seed to peck at. "Pincher's mine, and Onyx is Father's. Onyx has basically made himself mine now. That, and he is nowhere near as annoying as the bird."

Remus harrumphed and before long they began to march through Diagon Alley to get some last minute supplies, before running off to Platform 9 ¾ They had scoured the train to get a compartment that was not already taken. They threw their trunks into the shelves above them and began to wait for all of the students to board as well. Remus threw his jacket over him and without warning Arthur, began to snooze.

"Bloody hell, Remus." Arthur muttered. He patted the space beside him and Onyx hopped up, lying down next to Arthur, laying his head on his lap.

"Yeah, you're a good wolf, aren't you boy? Yeah, not like Moony, are you?" Arthur began to stroke Onyx's ears before lightly stroking the grey-black fur.

"I can hear you, I'm not sleeping just yet." 

"Even better then, Onyx is better than you."

"Shut up."

"Of course, Moony, wouldn't want you to lose your precious beauty sleep."

Remus kicked Arthur's shoulder slightly before dozing off again. Arthur laughed at the tired werewolf lying next to him, and patted his leg in a friendly manner before turning all of his attention to his familiars.

 _ **X-X-X**_

"Bloody hell, did you see him in The Cauldron?" Ron asked, still bewildered from the sight at the Leaky Cauldron.

"Yes, Ron, we did see him. We aren't blind." Hermione replied, stroking Crookshanks.

The sight had been a weird one. Two men had entered The Leaky Cauldron as the Harry, Hermione and the Weasleys had been having breakfast. One of them was dressed in a rather patchwork suit, and looked rather ragged as he sat at the bar alongside his companion. The other man however, looked as if he dressed to impress. The man was rather pale, and he had blackish-brown hair that was cut short on the sides but was almost long enough to tie as a ponytail. The clothes he wore looked expensive, and something that a muggle would wear, however he clearly was not a muggle.

He was wearing shining Oxfords, and the slim black business trousers, and he wore a snow white button up shirt and a jet black waistcoat, and Harry could just notice the small floral stitching along the back and sides of the waistcoat. He had took a seat next to his friend in the patchwork suit and began his day by drinking two glasses of fire-whiskey.

What was extraordinary about the man was the animals that followed him around. There was a rather annoying crow that cawed every chance it got, but then there was the wolf. The wolf prowled into The Leaky Cauldron, eyeing up everyone as a potential threat before lying down next his master's seat. The wolf must have been domesticated, it was the only way it could have not been allowed into the inn.

The lupine beast was beautiful, and Harry wished that he could have had an animal like that as a pet. The beasts eyes were a sea of yellow and orange, and the fur was clinging to the wolf's skin neatly and the slight breeze in seemed to make the wolf's fur move in black and grey waves as if it were an ocean.

Harry had to wonder how someone had such wonderful beasts.

"Mione, you know everything. Do you know who he was?" Ron asked, holding Scabbers close to his chest.

"I have an idea." Hermione almost whispered.

"Go on then, tell us!"

"I'll let you figure it out, Ronald." Hermione gave a sly smile as she continued to search for an empty compartment.

Soon, they realised that the compartments were all full, and would just have to share a compartment with some other people. Harry did not personally have a problem with it, as long as they weren't friends with Malfoy. They soon reached the final carriage and the final compartment, and even that one was occupied, and to the trio's surprise it was the two men who they had caught at The Leaky Cauldron.

"Bloody hell, it's them!" Ron exclaimed.

"Hush, Ron! One of them is clearly sleeping." Hermione had managed to observe one of them with the coat over his head.

"We're just going to have to squeeze into this one." Harry stated, before moving in.

Harry opened the door to the compartment and looked to the man who appeared to be reading a book whilst stroking the wolf. "Excuse me, but can we sit here with you? We've got nowhere else to sit." 

"Of course." The man replied. "As long as you don't make too much noise to awaken my colleague here." 

"Thank you." 

The three teens managed to get inside the compartment as quietly as possible and place their trunks into the shelves above them. Ron couldn't help but continue to stare at the man, bewildered by the tamed wolf. Hermione tried to stop him from gawking but it was to no avail. The man stifled a laugh before speaking.

"Curious?" The man asked.

Ron was caught in his stupor, and Hermione answered for him. "It appears that Ron is very taken with your..." She stopped, unsure what to call the creature.

"Wolf. This is Onyx, and the annoying little creature on my shoulder is my familiar, Pincher."

"Excuse me, but we never caught your name." Hermione said, stroking Crookshanks.

"My name is Arthur Noctis Urien, and my colleagure here is Remus Lupin." Replied Arthur.

"Sorry for interrupting," Harry began. "How come you're on the train?"

"Lupin and I will be your Defence Against the Dark Arts professors for this year." 

"Well, you can't be worse than Lockheart. You at least look as if you can handle yourselves." Said Ron.

"Ron! I'm sorry, but we haven't introduced ourselves." Said Hermione. "I am Hermione Granger, and my friends here are Ron Weasley and Harry Potter."

"Well, it is wonderful to meet you three. I hope we all get along, I would hate to give any of you a detention."

"Professor Urien?" Hermione began. "You wouldn't happen to be related to Sir Edric Urien would you?"

Arthur's eyes widened with surprise. Clearly the girl was intelligent. "You are correct. I'm his son."

"Wait, you're related to one of the Knights of the Round Table?" Harry asked, eyes wide in disbelief.

"Yes. I am. Now it's my turn to ask the questions, two for two. Weasley, you would not happen to be Bill and Charlie's younger brother?" 

"The red hair gave it away, didn't it?" Ron asked.

"Sort of. Now, you are somebody I've heard a lot about the boy in front of me. Harry James Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived? It's a pleasure."

"The pleasure is all mine." Harry began to shrink into his seat, his fame once again becoming the forefront of the conversation.

It was clear to Arthur that Harry hated his fame, and hated being known as the Boy-Who-Lived. He could understand it, he was always known as the son of Edric Urien, successful millionaire and secret wizard, but that last part was kept hidden from the muggle masses. Ron could not keep his eyes off of Onyx, and Onyx managed to stay asleep for a majority of the trip. Pincher was still his annoying self, and Arthur had to keep him occupied so he would not wake up Remus from his slumber.

The three teens managed to make some polite conversation. Harry was obviously the most socially awkward out of the three, and Hermione was the most curious. Ron did not say much, mainly because he kept on staring at Onyx for the majority of the journey to Hogwarts. The conversation was nice, and it was certainly a lot more interesting than reading _The Once and Future King_ for the third time in a row. It was certainly an interesting take on his father and his fellow knights.

Who ever knew that Lancelot was such an arsehole?

Arthur had never brought up the topic of the other knights, mainly because every time he tried his father stifled a few tears and told him that he would tell him about it when he was older. Arthur knew he would never get the true story now, so he had to rely on whatever the bloody historians had said. There was much debate, like if Lancelot was actually a nice guy, if Galahad actually ever went to heaven via angel pickup, and whether Mordred was actually King Arthur's son or cousin.

Arthur shivered. Why would King Arthur ever consider such a thing? The word 'incest' came to mind and Arthur shivered in his place again.

"Just out of curiosity, which of you is best at Defence?" Arthur asked.

Ron and Hermione spoke at the same time. "Harry is." 

"I'm really not." Harry managed to say.

Arthur managed to smile before feeding Pincher another seed, and the crow began to peck at the seed in the palm of his hand before taking it in his beak and perching himself on top of Onyx, who only gave a quiet growl in response.

"Professor, how is it you have such… unique familiars?" Hermione asked.

"Good question, Miss Granger. I found Pincher when I was on an expedition with my father in Russia. Onyx, the big softie that he is, was my father's."

"Was?" Ron blurted out.

"He's mine now, I guess. Ever since Father passed." Arthur sighed. "He just skulked around the manor, and soon enough he just started following me. He's not as bad as Pincher, not as annoying." 

The trio laughed as quietly as they could when the crow began to stare at him and began to caw loudly. Arthur quickly threw another seed at him so the bird would shut up.

Then the train screeched to a halt. Arthur nearly flew out of his seat and into the teenagers in front of him. The animals went deadly quiet, and even Pincher had stopped pecking at the seeds and stopped cawing. Arthur began to tap softly on the Remus' chest, before almost smacking him so he could wake up.

"Remus, get up."

Remus began to rub his eyes and wake up, placing his coat on the table and taking a sip of the water on the table in front of him.

"What's happened?" Remus asked.

"The train stopped."

"At Hogwarts?"

"No, it's too soon." 

Arthur drew his wand from his holster and kept it trained on the door. From the other compartments , it was possible for the two professors and the students to hear the screams coming from other pupils. Arthur jumped out of his seat and Onyx was quickly at his side.

"Whatever happens, keep the door locked." Arthur ordered.

"Wait!" Hermione begged, but it was too late for Arthur to respond as he had leaped into the fray in the other carriages.

Remus had warned him of the threat already, but he had a bigger problem with the fact that the students had not been warned before they had gotten aboard the train. That was one of the problems Arthur had with Dumbledore, he withheld information for no reason, even if it meant harm coming to one of his students.

And Arthur would not allow that to happen.

If the train had stopped, then it was for a reason, and if Sirius Black had escaped from Azkaban, then that only meant one thing was searching for him.

Dementors.

Arthur hated the things. Sad beasts that sucked the life and happiness from everyone and everywhere they went. Arthur could not understand why Dumbledore had not alerted the students to their presence, so they would surely be more ready if one came crawling through the train. He never thought such a scenario would happen, but apparently Arthur was wrong.

 _ **I hate being wrong.**_

Arthur checked the other compartments, and some of the students had already locked the doors to keep themselves safe to a degree. Arthur made sure they were locked properly before he moved on, he could feel the cold become closer, and soon he was freezing in his waistcoat. He wished he had brought his jacket with him, but that was too late. He wouldn't be bothered by the hypothermia. Not until the Dementors were gone.

As Arthur began to traverse the other carriages, he noticed that some of the children were just eleven. Far too young to even comprehend what a Dementor could do. Arthur groaned, and behind him, Onyx gave a loud growl, which meant he was close. Arthur looked at some of the windows, and noticed that they had almost completely frozen over. Another side-effect of Dementors being let loose was that they brought the harsh cold with them wherever they went. That, and it seemed like all the happiness in the world had just been sucked down a drain.

Arthur hated that feeling.

He entered the next carriage, and he had finally caught sight of the Dementor. He could see a rather tall looking girl lying on the floor, her blonde hair splayed out all over the floor, her bright blue eyes frozen open as the Dementor hovered over her, sucking the life out of her. Arthur was of the mind to tackle the demon and beat the ever-loving crap out of it, but he knew that would be a useless endeavour.

" **Expecto Patronum!"** Arthur yelled out, and the Dementor finally turned to face him.

The demon tried to get close to him, to try and do the same to him. However, that was not going to work. Arthur's Patronum had made sure of that. The white wolf howled at the shadowy creature before forcing it out of the train, and soon the Patronum began to hop around Arthur and stand next to Onyx, before slowly disappearing.

Arthur picked the girl up from the floor to make sure she was alright. Arthur checked her pulse before the girl in the compartment next to him opened the door, ushering him and the girl inside.

" **Ennervate."** Arthur whispered and the girl opened her eyes slowly.

Arthur soon realised that the girl was Daphne Greengrass, Cyrus Greengrass' eldest daughter. The girl who had opened the door had began to lightly tap Arthur on the shoulder.

"Excuse me, but who are you?" The girl asked.

"Professor Urien, Defence Against Dark Arts, and you are?" 

"Tracey Davis. Thank you for saving Daph, I didn't know what to do."

The girl looked as if she were about to cry, and Arthur could understand why. Dementors had that aura about them, and it brought out the worst in people. Arthur could remember when he encountered a stray Dementor in Ukraine, and it sent one of his fellow travellers into tears before it had been sent off. He wasn't surprised that this had happened again. He was more disgusted with the fact that Dumbledore had let it happen in the first place.

Daphne began to breath a bit better, and noticed who was knelt in front of her. "Arthur?" She asked, clearly befuddled.

"It's Professor Urien now. Come, Professor Lupin will want to check you. Miss Davis, you are allowed to come with us as well."

Arthur picked Daphne bridal style as she was too dazed by the Dementor to stand up straight, let alone walk. Tracey followed behind them, making sure to stay just behind the new professor. They traversed the other carriages, and Arthur had now told the students it was fine for them to move about the train again. They soon reached the final compartment in the final carriages, and Arthur was bewildered to have seen Harry sitting on the floor, looking just as dazed as Daphne.

Remus let out a sigh. "Another Dementor was on the train. It got to Harry but it's gone now. I suspect the same happened on another carriage?"

"It appears Miss Greengrass was overwhelmed by a Dementor, and had been struck down. I saved her before any real harm could be done." Arthur replied, laying Daphne in his place in the compartment.

Remus reached into his pocket and pulled out a large bar of chocolate, handing them to both Harry and Daphne. As they began to eat the chocolate slowly, Harry and Daphne began to make some small-talk, and surprisingly, were not arguing. When Cyrus allowed Arthur to teach Daphne some out of school curriculum, she had revealed that she was a Slytherin, and that during school-time she was paired with Harry Potter in Potions, who was obviously a Gryffindor. Apparently the two managed to get along well enough considering the houses that they had been placed in.

"So, Potter. Dementor got you?" Daphne said, with a smirk on her face.

"I could ask the same to you, Greengrass." Harry shot back with a smile.

Hermione was too busy looking after Crookshanks and reading her book, and Ron was in shock that his best mate was actually talking to a Slytherin. He had turned so red that he looked he was about to turn into a tomato.

"Harry, why are you talking to them?" Ron asked, scowling.

"Because it is possible to have friends that are in other houses, Ron." Harry replied.

"But Harry, they're slimy snakes!" Ron exclaimed. "You can't trust any of them." 

"I'm pretty sure I trust Greengrass in Potions. I don't see the problem with that." Harry replied once more, munching on some more chocolate.

"Only because I do most of the work, Potter." Greengrass almost whispered.

Arthur could tell that Harry and Daphne got along alright, even though Daphne had deemed that not important enough to tell Arthur during their free-time. Ron had turned beet-red once more, and had taken to focusing all of his attention on Scabbers the rat. Onyx had began to growl loudly, and had began to stare at Scabbers intently.

"Oh, hush you harmless dog. It's a rat."

Onyx only mewled in response, but went quiet again. The train had gotten going again, and soon enough they had finally arrived at the station just away from Hogwarts. The teachers and the students went to retrieve their bags before hopping into two of the carriages that would take them all the way to the school entrance.

"Looking forward to this, Arthur?" Remus asked with a smirk.

"Maybe." Arthur grunted.

"Don't lie. You know you are looking forward to it."

"Possibly." 

"You're so impertinent, you know that?" Remus began to poke Arthur for fun, and in response, Arthur began to growl. "I'll take that as a yes then, shall I?" Remus smiled.

Arthur gave an exaggerated scowl. "Yes."

"Hah!"

 _ **X-X-X**_

 _ **Remember to follow, favourite and review!**_

 _~THE REAL ITALIAN STALLION~_


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Feasting and First Classes

As soon as Arthur had gotten off of the Hogwarts Express, he and Remus had made a beeline for the carriages. With some of the looks the students were giving, they had no idea why the carriages were being pulled by themselves. It was a relatively simple creature, just a rare one that people never really got to see.

Thestrals.

Horses with leathery skin and blackish-purple skin, that is what people most likely describe them as. Arthur had yet to tame one, although he would be rather proud of himself if he managed to find one on the manor grounds. He could see the delicate creatures wait for Remus and himself to climb inside the carriage, and they did so quickly before they ended up having to walk all the way to ancient castle.

Arthur did not really agree with the Scottish weather, especially considering that the heavy rain was ruining his clean clothing that he had put on that morning. It did not bother him too much, he had other clothes. Arthur quickly threw off his waistcoat and cast a drying charm on it. His hair had begun to drip downwards onto his foreheard, but Arthur began to slick it back into it's normal place.

"Why are you so fussy about how you look?" Remus asked. "Even on the expeditions you had to look as if you wasted hundreds of galleons on clothes." 

"Well, allow me to explain." Arthur said with a mock posh accent. "Appearances are everything. You'll never see Lucius Malfoy go around wearing something that he just scavenged out of a bin. No, he prances around in the best robes, acting all high and mighty. I usually take it upon myself to make myself look even better, and then beat him down with my wealth."

"This is why you have no friends." Remus stated with a smirk.

"Why? Because I do what Malfoy does, but even better?" 

"Because you flaunt it."

"I've got nobody to flaunt it to, Remus."

Remus just stared at him, as if the answer to his question was obvious enough that Arthur would soon reach it. "Why did we go to the Leaky Cauldron?" 

"So I could get a drink before I go tee-total for teaching." Arthur replied.

"No, you're a terrible liar." Remus began. "You did it so you could flaunt those fancy clothes in front of everyone."

Arthur scowled, he never really looked at himself that way. Did people really think of him like that? The rich and privileged and pampered child that wandered around in dad's shadow? Arthur did not want to be known as Edric Urien's son, he wanted to be his own man. He would be his own man. Arthur had always thought that people enjoyed his company or his patronage, no matter if he was rich or poor, if he dressed nice or not. He thought of himself as a decent person at least.

"Remus?" Arthur muttered. "You don't think of me like that do you?"

Remus smiled slightly. "Of course not, Arthur. I'm your friend, I have no reason to think of you like that."

The answer had instilled some sense of confidence in Arthur once more, but the doubts and questions still lingered in his head like a bad smell. Was he actually thought of as a prissy and stuck-up child with a lot of money? He hoped not. He may have been a little arrogant with some of the other pure-blooded families, but he had to be. He was the only one who could put them in their places.

That, and it was hilarious to see Lucius Malfoy squirm when Arthur had threatened to pull his business away from Malfoy. The look of horror upon the arrogant highbrow's face was one he could take a photo of. If he could, Arthur would have done it every day.

Soon, the carriages all stopped, and the occupants knew that they had finally reached their destination. Arthur threw his suit jacket over his head, and ran inside with Remus following closely behind him. The pair did not worry about their trunks, they'd be placed in their offices and bedrooms by the time the Start-of-Year Feast had finished. The two professors ran into the massive main hall of Hogwarts and took their seats at the head table. The congregation of professors watched as the masses of students, march into the hall and take a seat at their house tables. Arthur had noticed that the clan of red-headed children had all made their way to the Gryffindor table, and that Harry Potter and Hermione Granger had joined them too. Arthur also noticed that all of the Slytherins had some rather large scowls on their faces, as if the very moment they had walked into the castle had been the moment their souls had left them forever.

An old Scottish woman had made her way to the front of the hall, and had began to shout out the names of the first-years that would start learning how to control their magic. Arthur soon began to remember when he was at the school, just instead of being a teacher, he was the student. A lot of the teachers he had at the time had now gone, replaced with people had never seen in his entire life. He obviously knew Dumbledore was still the headmaster, it would have been stupid to assume that he wasn't. If anything, Arthur was still surprised that he had not tried becoming the Minister for Magic.

 _ **He'd definitely be better than having a bloke named Fudge.**_

Professor Filius Flitwick had assembled his choir (and their toads) and had began to sing somehting completely unintelligible for Arthur's ears. He almost wanted to stuff his ears full of fire-whiskey so he never had to hear a toad again. As soon as the choir had finished, and Professor Flitwick had taken his seat, Dumbledore stood up and began to speak.

"Welcome, welcome to another year at Hogwarts! I'd like to say a few words before we all become befuddled by our excellent feast. Firstly, I'd like to welcome our two new teachers for our Defence Against the Dark Arts post: Professors RJ Lupin and AN Urien. They have both kindly consented to fulfilling the teaching post. We wish you luck, professors."

There was a great applause for the two new teachers as they stood up and gave a quick bow before they sat down again. There were a few mutters from some of the Ravenclaws and the Gryffindors about having two teachers for Defence, but they were soon gone. Arthur could see skinny little blonde boy who appeared to be on the Slytherin table try and mock Harry, but Hermione and Ron kept him from acknowledging the snake.

"Now, we must announce that we will also have a new Care of Magical Creatures professor, and it is none other than our own, Rubeus Hagrid! Congratulations."

The humongous man stood up, and the table on the left side of the room was pushed forward a few inches by Hagrid's massive frame. He waved a little bit before the elderly Scottish woman forced him to sit down before Dumbledore began to speak again.

"Finally, on a more describing note because of a request directly from the Ministry of Magic. Hogwarts will now play host to the Dementors of Azkaban. Until such a time where Sirius Black his recaptured, the Dementors will be stationed at every entrance on the grounds, and whilst I have been assured their presence will not disrupt our day to day activities. A word of caution, Dementors are vicious creatures, and they will not distinguish between the one they hunt, and the one that gets in there way. Therefore I must warn each and every one of you to give them no reason to harm you. It is not in the nature of a Dementor to be forgiving. But you know, happiness can be found in the darkest of places, if one only remembers to turn on the light."

As if to exemplify his meaning, Dumbledore began to play with the candles that were placed upon the eagle-shaped podium. He toyed with one turning it off, before with a wave of his hand, turning it back on again.

With a wide smile, he outstretched his arms. "Let the feast begin!"

 _ **X-X-X**_

Harry had enjoyed seeing every else again for another year. After his incident on the train, it was even better to know that Daphne and him still got along, even though Ron seemed a bit too shocked to even comprehend that a Slytherin and Gryffindor could have a decent conversation, even though the conversation itself seemed to be peppered with undertones and hidden insults.

"Harry, I'm still trying to see how you can talk to one of those bloody snakes." Ron began.

Harry sighed. Did it worry Ron that much? "I had an epiphany over the summer, Ron. Think about it, have we talked to any Slytherins other than Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle or Parkinson?"

Ron was quiet, chewing on a chicken leg as he contemplated an answer. "No, but they might as well all be the same. Honestly, Harry, they are all the same. Can't you see it?"

"Ron, has Davis or Greengrass actually even said anything to you?"

Again, Ron's idiocy had been muted. Harry could not blame Ron for his feelings on the house of Salazar Slytherin. Almost every experience Ron had with a Slytherin had ended terribly. Harry was almost of the same mind, but Greengrass had told him that not everyone in Slytherin had immediately agreed with his 'takeover' of sorts. Daphne and Tracey had also told Harry that he wasn't like the other Gryffindors, which he took as a quarter-compliment.

As always the feast was spectacular, the only bad thing was that Ron just could not keep his mouth shut when he had food in his gob. Hermione tried to educate him on basic table etiquette but it did not seem to click, instead it went in one ear and out of the other.

"Why do you reckon we've got two Defence teachers?" Seamus asked.

"Dunno." Ron chewed on the chicken leg. "Dean, you got any idea?"

"Nothing, the Ravenclaws probably know, they're meant to be smart." Dean replied before he went back to reading his Quidditch magazine.

"Maybe Dumbledore just wants to help us get some more notes in for Defence, we haven't really had the best teachers for the subject, have we?" Hermione interjected.

Harry was not going to get involved. He wanted a quiet year, just like he wanted a quiet year for his first and second year, however he had a feeling that he would not get that in his third year either. Harry thought that in general that he just would never get a quiet year at Hogwarts. His first year he stopped Voldemort/Quirrel from retrieving the Philosopher's Stone, second year he fought the Basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets, and now for his third year he would possibly have an encounter with the mass murderer Sirius Black.

 _ **Could I just have a quiet year for once, please? Pretty please?**_

Somehow he doubted that it would ever have one.

Harry quickly finished off his food and quickly went up to the Gryffindor common room before he went to bed. Somehow, Seamus had managed to smuggle in some special sweets. He handed one to Neville and somehow Longbottom had turned into an elephant, or at least sounded like it. Seamus took one and then sounded like he was chimpanzee, and he played the part rather well too. Ron nicked one too and then turned into a Bengal tiger. Harry then followed the crowd and took one from the little box of sweets.

Harry threw the sweet in the air, and it landed perfectly in his mouth. With a laugh, Ron had breifly warned him to not take the one that he had taken, but it was too late. Harry could feel something boil in his head, and soon he felt a smokey vapour evacuate his eardrums. The group of Gryffindors had began to mess around for an hour until they went to sleep, ready for their third year at Hogwarts.

 _ **X-X-X**_

 _ **Slytherin Dormitories**_

Obviously, the dormitories were slightly different. The first-year Slytherins had yet to recognise why they had been placed in the house of great Salazar Slytherin, but they soon would. They would have to be ambitious, intelligent, cunning, because those were the traits that Salazar Slytherin had claimed for his house.

As soon as Daphne and Tracey had entered, the first years had all paired up or grouped together with the people that they had met on the train. Daphne had to stifle a laugh, when they got older, they'd all turn on each other. The house they were placed basically set that in stone. They'd all be turned into idiotic goons by Draco, forced into hating the other houses because Draco's father had a lot of money.

Daphne despised Draco, he was the worst of the worst, and she had not even believed that he could have been placed into the House of Slytherin. He was a weasel, an overly arrogant and utter coward, and Daphne had to wonder if Lucius had to pay someone for Draco to even stand a chance to get into Slytherin.

 _ **Speaking of Malfoy, the snake.**_

The ponce had marched over towards Daphne and Tracey, with Crabbe and Goyle following behind him, his 'faithful' bodyguards. It looked like the pair had gained a little weight since Daphne had last seen them, and they definitely looked larger.

"Welcome, Lady Greengrass." Draco said quietly.

"What do you want, Malfoy?" 

Draco had a scowl on his face. "You know, Father is still trying to talk to Lord Greengrass about a contract between the two of us, all you have to do is say yes. Think about it, you could be my Lady Malfoy. I could give you anything you ever wanted."

"I'd rather be married to Longbottom, that is how much you disgust me, Malfoy."

Malfoy almost looked as if he were going to melt on the spot. Daphne had a reputation to uphold, she was the Ice Queen of Slytherin, and she would not even risk being caught dead on Malfoy's arm. She had better taste than to even consider going out with Draco bloody Malfoy. Malfoy annoyed, irked, vexed, maddened, irritated and even infuriated her. He had the nerve to try and make a marriage contract with her? Did he even know what year it was? She doubted that, considering how mind-numbingly thick-headed Malfoy was.

"Are you sure about that, Greengrass? Longbottom, and I you said you had taste." Draco mocked.

"Draco, if you can't please Parkinson, you can't possibly please me with your tool." Daphne shot back, and soon Draco turned beet red.

"How dare you! Do you know who my father is?"

"Do I look like I care?" Daphne uttered before marching off to the girl's dorms with Tracy at her side.

Daphne began to fold some of her clothe into her own drawers and began to get ready for bed. The first lesson she would have would be Arithmancy, but somehow she was one of the few Slytherins in the house to have chosen the elective. Some of them like Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle had decided to pick idiotic lessons like Care of Medical Creatures and Divination. Sometimes she wished she hadn't been placed in Slytherin, but Ravenclaw.

The door to her room opened, and Tracey had entered, already dressed in her nightgown. "Shot him down well enough, didn't you Daph?" 

"Well, he deserved it." 

"That's true." Said Tracey. "How are you feeling? Better hopefully?" 

"Yeah, I think we might actually have some decent teachers for Defence this year. Why do you think Dumbledore got two of them this year?" Daphne asked.

"Probably just in case one of them ends up dead half way through the year, probably no thanks to Potter."

"Tracey, you know he actually isn't that bad." 

"He's Gryffindor. He's bullish and overconfident in his own abilities." 

If anything, Daphne had thought that Tracey had misread Harry for a moment. He seemed to be exactly the opposite of a Gryffindor. She doubted he had a place in Slytherin, otherwise there would have been a fight between the two of them every day of the week, and Daphne had doubted that Professor Snape would have been able to keep his patience with Potter any longer than a week. He was quiet, and he kept to himself, almost to an unnatural extent. Daphne had to work with him in Potions, and he was not as bad as Snape had made it out to be. If anything, he was more pleasant to work with because he knew that she knew more about Potions than he did.

"You do realise he isn't a Weasley, don't you?" Daphne asked her best friend.

"He might as well be, he hangs around with them all the time." Tracey replied.

"He only hangs around with Ron. Besides, the twins are funny, usually." 

Tracey scoffed. "Are you complimenting the Gryffindors, Daphne Greengrass?"

"No, I'm complimenting the Weasley twins on their humour."

"Yes, I'm sure you are."

Daphne scowled at her best friend, and crawled into her bed. "Tracey, have you actually talked to any of the Gryffindors? They're not all bad."

"Not really, I think I prefer you, Nott and Zabini than Longbottom or the Weasleys." 

"Has anyone ever told you that you're really close-minded?"

"Mother did occasionally, but not any more." 

Daphne sighed and began to make herself comfortable in her new bed. Tracey had always been a little temperamental with her, especially when it came to the Gryffindors. Tracey was one of the few people she could trust, and there weren't many that could do that. The people that she could trust consisted of four people.

Her father.

Her mother.

Astoria.

Tracey.

It didn't really bother Daphne that she could count the people she could trust on one hand and still have fingers left over. Trust was a valuable commodity, and she didn't give it out, she was not a charity. No, she needed people, people that could be valuable to her, and to her family. Eventually she would end up married to somebody, whether it was through a contract or if she ever found The One. It didn't really matter to Daphne, she'd already come to terms with the facts that women were treated like chattel in Magical Britain.

Even in school, some of the boys thought they were entitled to a few special services, but Daphen didn't receive the Ice Queen for no reason. Anyone that tried anything with her had been harshly rebuffed, sometimes with a stinging hex. Sometimes there was no other way to tell the boys that she wasn't interested was to send a hex near their private parts, then the message was generally received.

Malfoy was the latest one of the boys to be entranced with her looks. Daphne knew he wouldn't be the last one, and there was still four more years at Hogwarts to go through. Still, the Ice Queen would not crumble. Daphne would not let that little facade come crashing down.

Never in a million years.

Daphne went to sleep thinking of what the coming year would bring, and whatever the hell Harry Potter would end up getting himself into somewhere in the year.

 _ **X-X-X**_

Arthur had woken up early, and was dismayed when he realised that Remus had awoken an hour before him. He didn't blame him, but Arthur had a tendency to want to do the best in everything he did. It had been instilled in him by his father that being second-place didn't mean anything. His father never told him anything like 'it's alright, you'll do better next time. I'm proud of you.' No, every time Arthur had failed to impress, he was scolded, belittled, disparaged and denigrated by his father.

He hated it, but Arthur had the last laugh. He wasn't dead.

Arthur made his way to the classroom, and before long the fifth years had made themselves known. Remus and Arthur were busy teaching the Hufflepuffs and the Ravenclaws. One student stood out to the pair of professors however.

Cedric Diggory.

The Diggory boy was very intelligent, miles apart from even his classmates that were in Ravenclaw. He had made an attempt to answer every question, and seemed to be the first to finish all of his work, drawing some slight ire from the Ravenclaws, who prided themselves on their intelligence. Arthur and Remus could tell he would do well in O. , it definitely seemed like he would do well in the Defence exam anyway. After the class had ended, and most of them had wandered off to their next class.

Arthur spoke first. "You think the first lesson went well?"

"The Diggory boy definitely got on well, I think even the Ravenclaws were a little jealous of him." Remus gave a little laugh, before he began to place some of the paperwork on his desk for him to mark.

"When is the next lesson?" Arthur asked.

"We have a free class now, but the third lesson we have second-year Slytherins and Hufflepuffs. Go on, I know you want to explore the grounds. Be free."

"Since when did you become the headmaster?" Arthur asked again, smirking.

"Since I know that you're clearly not the marking paper type of person. Go on, just get here before the third lesson starts." Remus waved him off and Arthur soon began to explore the grounds around Hogwarts.

His first destination was to see the Care of Magical Creatures professor. Hagrid seemed nice enough, if not a bit larger than himself. From what he had heard, apparently the man had been expelled from Hogwarts during his third year for harbouring an Acromantula, yet Dumbledore still allowed him on the grounds as he looked after the animals that wandered and roamed about Hogwarts. Arthur had an inkling that the story might have been wrong, as Hagrid seemed a bit too kind and soft-hearted to do such a thing, at least from what Arthur had seen, but the old editions of _The Daily Prophet_ said otherwise.

The cold Scottish winds had not been as bad as the night before, and it was no longer raining, so Arthur was made infinitely more happier than he was when he arrived. In fact, the weather seemed nice enough, considering that the sun was shining, with no clouds visible. Arthur almost felt like singing as he made his way to Hagrid's hut.

As he made his way down the hill, he noticed a small congregation of students that were standing around outside the small hut, with Hagrid beckoning anyone that he could see coming down the hill toward him. Arthur soon made his way to the hut, softly pushing past some of the students.

"Oh, 'ello professor!" Hagrid boomed. "What you doin' all the way out 'ere?"

"I have a soft spot for creatures, magical and otherwise. Thought I might observe, if that's alright."

"Course it is, professor!" Hagrid said with a smile. He grabbed a rope with some pheasants attached and marched out. "We've got the Gryffindors and the Slytherins today, professor."

"Oh, goody." Arthur muttered.

"Come now, professor. I've got a surprise for 'em today. I think you might enjoy it yourself."

Arthur's suspicions were confirmed when he first began to speak with Hagrid. He definitely doubted what _The Daily Prophet_ had said about the gentle giant. The Gryiffindors followed him, carrying their oversized books. The books looked as if they would end up eating somebody alive. His prediction soon came to pass, as Neville Longbottom was taken to the floor by his book, his robes almost completely shredded.

The blonde ponce behind Arthur began to speak. "How are we even meant to open it?" He complained.

"Well, Malfoy, you stroke the spine of course!" Hagrid grunted as he lead the class further into the brush.

 _ **So, that's Lucius Malfoy's son. The blonde ponce…**_

As soon as they reached the stone wall that circled a specific area, Neville had reached them again, regrouping with his fellow Gryffindors. Ron looked at him with sympathy.

"You were meant to stroke the spine, Nev." He whispered, as the Slytherins tried to quietly cackle at the poor Longbottom's bad luck.

"I think they're funny." Hermione muttered to Harry and Ron.

"Oh yes, terribly funny." Malfoy mocked. "God, this place has gone to the dogs. Just wait until my father hears about this, that Dumbledore has this oaf teaching classes."

Arthur was beginning to have a headache because of Malfoy's whining. "Are you Draco Malfoy?" Arthur asked.

"Yes, I am. You look like someone reputable around here. You know my father?" Draco asked.

"Lucius? Oh yes, my father has done business with him loads of times. Dropped him for better business too, I told him of plenty other families he could do business with. I'd take Cyrus Greengrass over Lucius Malfoy any day."

"How dare you! Do you have any idea who my father is?"

"Yes, Malfoy, I do." Arthur smirked. "Cry all you want, your father isn't here. Oh, and tell him next time you see him that Arthur Noctis Urien doesn't need his business any more."

 _ **God, that felt good to shut him up.**_

The Gryffindors looked as if they were going to burst out laughing, and the Slytherins looked like their bubble was about to burst at any moment. Draco looked horrified when he had heard the name, which meant people still new the power behind the name of Urien. Then again, if Arthur had told that to Lucius' face, he would not have looked like he would have been about to cry.

The class heard Hagrid clear his throat and made a sound that sounded like a royal trumpet. He motioned his hands behind him and before them was a majestic hippogriff.

"This is Buckbeak. He's a hippogriff. Isn't he beautiful? First thing you need to know about a hippogriff is that they're are very proud creatures. You do not want to insult a hippogriff." Hagrid paused for a moment. "It may just be the last thing you ever do." 

"Now! Who'd like to say hello?"

The entire class collectively backed away, all of them except Harry Potter. He had not moved a muscle, and had kept his eyes straight on the hippogriff. Hagrid turned and it appeared that Harry had been the only one to step forward.

"Well done, Harry. Come on!"

Harry turned and noticed that the class had all moved backwards, and he sighed before reluctantly moving forward. He moved slowly, and so Ron pushed him forward slightly. Hagrid began to explain some basic rules about hippogriffs. Harry went to bow first, and in a way he was asking permission to come closer to the majestic beast.

Buckbeak did not see it like that, and began to caw and flap it's wings directly at Harry. "Back off, Harry! Back off!" Hagrid implored, and Harry slowly moved backwards.

As soon as he took one step backwards, he stepped onto a twig, which snapped and made everyone else behind him twitch or jump slightly. Harry stayed in the bowing position, only making slight moving motions with his head so he could see where Buckbeak was. Soon, the hippogriff stopped flapping and bowed it's head to Harry. There was a massive sigh of relief from the Gryffindors, and Hagrid soon encouraged Harry to stroke the great beast. "Don't be shy. Just go nice and slow." Arthur had noticed Malfoy push through the crowd, watching gleefully as Harry began to stroke Buckbeak, and then there was a scowl on Malfoy's face.

Hagrid wore a massive smile on his face, and soon lumbered towards Harry, grabbing him by the waste and hauling him atop Buckbeak. Harry tried to protest, but Hagrid threw on Buckbeak warning Harry not to pluck any feathers. Hagrid slapped Buckbeak's rump and soon the wonderful hippogriff raced off into the sky, carrying a screaming Harry on it's back as it flew regally through the air.

Arthur had to clap at the way Hagrid had handled the hippogriff, and it lead to the rest of the Gryffindors clapping too, which made Hagrid shed a single tear.

"Well done, Hagrid." Arthur congratulated him. "Very well done."


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5: Defence

It looked amazing, to see Buckbeak flying over the Black Lake just a distance away from Hogwarts. Soon Buckbeak was flying around the castle itself, and Harry was loud enough to hear even from the clearing in the forest. Buckbeak had been rather well behaved too for a hippogriff. Arthur had a few encounters with the species, and one of them very nearly sliced his entire arm off. It was one of the few moments where Arthur had nearly considered stopping the animal taming that he would always do, yet he realised that it was the one thing that brought him enjoyment and peace. He again realised that he could not just simply give up animal-taming.

There were some wonderful and magical creatures in the world, and some of them were dangerous, like Chimeras and Dragons, yet Arthur had always felt a feeling of enchantment whenever he was around a beast, magical or otherwise. Whenever he approached a horse, or a griffin that wandered around the grounds of Reddington Manor, he felt like he could do anything in the world, like he could go anywhere and do anything that he wanted.

That feeling was just simply amazing.

Arthur could see Harry and Buckbeak flying over the Black Lake just a small distance away from Hogwarts. Soon, Buckbeak flew off, flying all around and over the main school, with Harry clinging to the eagle-horse hybrid. Arthur could hear the young boy's screams and shouts of excitement and elatedness as he flew through the air. As soon as he had came back down, Hagrid began to feed Buckbeak a pheasant whilst Harry was confronted by the Gryffindors. Arthur stifled a laugh as he noticed some of the Slytherins (like Malfoy) scowling at Harry's lack of harm.

"Well done, Harry! Well done!" Hagrid congratulated the teenager, who had a massive grin on his face.

Hagrid was positively beaming, he looked overjoyed even. He marched over to the Harry and the rest of the Gryffindors.

"So, how'd I do on me first day?" Hagrid asked.

"Great." Harry smiled back at the gigantic man, and with a smile he added: "Professor."

Hagrid beamed once more, but it was not his fault that one of the Slytherins, which just happened to be Malfoy, had marched up to the beast, not even bowing to Buckbeak, but instead insulted him as he marched over to the great creature.

"Oh, I bet you're not even dangerous are you, you big ugly brute?" Malfoy began. "Yes, you're not dangerous at all." He smirked, as if he were going to one-up Harry Potter.

Malfoy was too far away for Hagrid to pull him away as the hippogriff reared up on it's hind legs, and Malfoy was soon paralysed with fear, finally realising what he had gone and done. "Malfoy!" Hagrid boomed.

Thankfully, Arthur had drawn his wand and without a sound, pulled Malfoy away from the cleaver-like claws of Buckbeak. It did not stop him from complaining though when he had pulled himself up from the floor, however. He began to rant and rave at both Arthur and Hagrid. Arthur groaned.

"I can't believe you! You think you'll get away with treating me like some kind of rag doll? Just wait until my father hears about this!"

Malfoy tried to move back to his goons and cronies without being punished for his idiotic actions, but Arthur would not allow that. The boy could have been killed because of his stupid rivalry and his pathetic attempt at one-upping Harry. Arthur jogged towards the blonde ponce, grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and began to scold him.

"You are an idiot-"

"You can't talk to me like that!" 

"I bloody well can, and I bloody well will. You are a ponce, a jealous ponce. I can't stand jealousy, and jealousy can do the worst of things-" Arthur was cut off again.

"You think I'm jealous? Jealous of Potter?" Malfoy interrupted.

"Yes, otherwise you wouldn't have strutted up to Buckbeak like a complete idiot and insulted him! Do you have fluff in your ears?" Draco didn't respond. "I asked you a question, Malfoy!"

"No!" 

"Are you sure about that? Because when Hagrid told you specifically not to insult a hippogriff, what do you go and do? You go and insult a hippogriff, and nearly get your arm torn off in the process. For your wonderful display of idiocy, you have brought shame upon the House of Slytherin. One-hundred points from Slytherin." Arthur ordered.

The Slytherins groaned in unison, and Arthur then decided to scowl at the rest of them, which shut them up for good. Malfoy skulked off from the new professor and back to his friends, staying quiet as the Slytherin students began to look angrily at him, silently blaming Draco for losing that many points for the house. Hagrid looked rather angry at Malfoy.

"Professor Hagrid, did you have any other punishments you would like to give Mr. Malfoy?" Arthur asked.

"You wouldn't be kind enough to have him serve a detention with you, would you Professor?" Hagrid asked, keeping his eyes on Buckbeak.

"Of course, Hagrid. He can stay behind with me after lunch after my defence class, can't you Malfoy?"

Malfoy glared at Arthur, and Arthur had to stifle a laugh as the blonde boy continued to scowl at his new professor.

"He looks so happy." Arthur spoke, loudly. The Gryffindors began to laugh as Malfoy looked as if he could not be further embarrassed.

Soon enough, Buckbeak had begun to become more sociable again, but every time one of the Slytherin students had approached him, he looked apprehensive of bowing to any of them. With enough persuasion (and pheasants) Buckbeak was more kindly and polite to the students, and somehow, Neville Longbottom was the only other person that had managed to ride the magnificent hippogriff. Soon, the class was over and Hagrid had set his very first homework. A sheet of parchment that included varying information about hippogriffs and other types of hybrid creatures.

As soon as the last of the students had left for their third lesson, Hagrid had called Arthur over for a small talk.

"So, how'd you think I did for me first lesson, Professor?" Hagrid asked as he petted Buckbeak.

"I'd say very well, Hagrid. Especially considering this is your first day as a Professor. What else have you got planned for the year?"

"Ah, you're too kind, Professor. After Buckbeak, I might just keep 'em to looking after small creatures, just so what 'appened with Malfoy doesn't happen again. Thank you for that, by the way."

"It wasn't a problem, Professor." Arthur replied.

"Please, just call me Hagrid."

"Only if you call me Arthur."

Hagrid gave a laugh. "Course, Arthur. It was nice to meet another fellow beast lover, very rare around these parts, it is."

"It was nice to meet you to Hagrid, now if you will excuse me, I believe I have the very same class for Defence. I'll be seeing you later, Hagrid." 

"See you later, Professor!"

 _ **X-X-X**_

Arthur leapt up the stairs to the classroom where he would be teaching once more. It was just his luck to be teaching a full class of the third year Gryffindors and the Slytherins. In fact, he would be teaching most of the same students he had just encountered in the Care of Magical Creatures lesson he had just assisted Hagrid with. He hadn't lied when he said the lesson had went well, it had, with a large majority of the class managing to at least get close to the hippogriff, with only a few Slytherins being warned by either Hagrid or himself.

But his lesson wasn't Care of Magical Creatures, his lesson was Defence Against the Dark Arts. It was his second-preferred subject to teach, but it seemed Hagrid had a firm grip on the position, so it was a duel position alongside Lupin teaching Defence.

Arthur did not have a problem with that.

He marched into the class loudly throwing his waistcoat over a chair and moving to Remus' side, listening to him as he welcomed them to their first Defence Against the Dark Arts. Arthur then noticed that the mirrored cupboard behind them was banging violently, as if something was attempting to get out and strangle something to death.

"Now then," Remus began. "What is in the cupboard?"

The class was silent for a small moment, before Dean Thomas answered. "That's a boggart, that is." 

"Very good, Mr. Thomas. Can somebody tell me what a boggart looks like?" Remus asked.

"Nobody knows, because a oggart will always take the shape whatever the person in front of it fears the most, that way, nobody knows what a true boggart looks like." Hermione answered.

"Very good, Miss Granger. Now, the charm to repel a boggart is quite simple really. I shall let Professor Urien explain." Remus finished, and Arthur soon took to the floor.

Arthur cleared his throat. "If you ever encounter a boggart, merely think of something that is either funny or not scary, and say the word 'riddikulus'. Now then, repeat after me. Riddikulus."

"Riddikulus!" The class repeated back to him, louder than himself.

"Very good, again. Riddikulus!" Arthur ordered.

"Riddikulus!" They shouted again.

 _ **Wow, they can say words. Now to see if they can use their wands as well…**_

Arthur smiled, Lupus and himself had planned this to see how their new students would react and to see what the two teachers could improve about them.

"Good, now that you know the words, draw your wands." Arthur ordered.

"Sir, you're not going to let that boggart out are you?" Hermione asked.

"I believe Miss Granger, that practical work is the only way to gain experience." Arthur replied simply.

With an elegant wave of his wand, Arthur had unlocked the door, and the door had slowly began to open. The boggart had yet to reveal itself, so Remus asked Neville Longbottom to do a demonstration of how to repel the boggart. Arthur could hear Remus whisper to Neville about Professor Snape in ladies clothing, before allowing Neville to face the boggart. The boggart, in the form of dreaded Serverus Snape had marched out menacingly, making his way toward Neville with a devilish look on his face.

"Wand at the ready, Neville." Remus reminded him.

Neville pointed at the boggart, his hand shaking rather rapidly. He quickly regained control of himself and shouted. " **Riddikulus!** "

Out of nowhere, Snape's jet black robes had turned green, with a the pelt of a tiger or something of the sort wrapped around his shoulders, and upon his head lay a hat with a stuffed eagle on top of it. Remus and Arthur had smiled, their first third-year could perform the Riddikulus charm.

 _ **How wonderful.**_

"Very good, Neville. Very good." Arthur said, and Neville began to smile to himself.

Remus began to speak once more. "Now then, every one shall form a line and each of you will get to try the charm to repel the boggart.

The whole class had gotten into a line, with a few certain Slytherins being the ones to push in line.

The first one in the line was Ron Weasley, and soon the boggart had caught sight of it's new victim. Where as before the boggart had turned into Professor Snape, the boggart had now turned into a whirlwind before finally settling into the form of an enormous acromantula. At first, Ron had begun to whimper as he withdrew his wand from his cloak. He continued to whimper before he finally spoke the words. The massive spider in front of them had now been given roller-skates and was no slipping and sliding all over the wooden floor, continuously attempting to get a grip on the floor.

"Excellent, Ron!" Remus shouted, as he began to turn on his record player. "Parvati, you're next!" He added.

Parvati took a reluctant step forward and faced the boggart, and once the boggart had finally managed to get a good view, the spider had gone, taken by the whirlwind that had then turned into a bloody and bandaged mummy that had just emerged from it's sarcophagus. With a wave of her wand and a shout of 'Riddikulus' the mummy had turned into a jack-in-the-box.

After a few more attempts, most of the class had essentially mastered the Riddikulus Charm. Some of the students' fears had been rather hilarious. Hermione's fear had ended up being Professor McGonagall unfortunately telling her that she had failed all of her exams. He understood her fear, but Arthur himself felt it was a bit misplaced. If anything, Hermione would end up passing every single one.

 _ **Probably…**_ His mind added.

Yet when it came to Harry Potter attempting the Riddikulus against the boggart, it had turned into something that Arthur had wished he had not seen.

A Dementor.

The atmosphere was nowhere near as cold as it would be if the boggart was a real Dementor. The windows would have frozen up and the room would have gone extremely cold. Arthur had never felt anything change, and all he had noticed was that the whirlwing had gone from Professor McGonagall into a horrifying Dementor. The whole class had jumped backwards, keeping as far as they could so they did not end up being it's next victim.

However, Harry had not moved, instead staying still, and trying to repeat the Riddikulus Charm as the Dementor flew closer to the teen. Remus and Arthur quickly, with Remus taking Harry by the arm and pulling away from the boggart whilst Arthur took the boggart's attention.

As soon as Arthur had thrown himself in front of the boggart, the Dementor flew back and turned into a whirlwind, before taking the form of a Chort. It gave a loud screech, making some of the students cover their ears. Arthur scowled as it continued to screech and scream. The creature had curving horns like on a ram, covered in blood, and the third eye on the bridge of it's nose stared at Arthur and only Arthur. The chort's legs were from a goat too, with the only difference being that the body looked like an extremely muscled and hairless dog's. The chort looked strong, strong enough to barrel through Arthur, the students behind him, and the walls behind the students.

As the chort began to snort and growl, Arthur began to draw his wand and before wild relict could charge through him, he shouted.

" **Riddikulus!"**

The highly threatening and deadly chort was now gone, replaced by a harmless sheep that was directed back into the mirrored cupboard. Arthur then quickly locked the door before Remus began to speak.

"Well, that's it. Lesson over!" Remus said, with a sad smile. "Yes, I'm sorry but we've had too much of a good thing! As an apology, I won't set any homework for you." 

_**Oh, that made some of them happy at least.**_

As the class began to move so they could go and get some food, there were only two faces who were still left in the class. Harry Potter and Daphne Greengrass.

To none of Arthur's surprise, Daphne had marched up to the professor's scowling at Arthur. Harry had decided to stay back, not planning to get involved in whatever Daphne had planned to ask the two Defence professors.

"So, Arthur..." Daphne asked as sweetly as she could.

"What do you want, Miss Greengrass?"

"Miss Greengrass? Why so formal all of a sudden?"

"Because I'm now your teacher."

"So?" She asked.

"Just because that Guinevere used to tutor you in Potions doesn't mean I'm your friend. I'm still your professor for Defence." 

"You'll break, I know it. They always do." Daphne muttered.

"Just because you're mother caters to your every whim does not mean I will too." Arthur replied.

"I doubt it, but that is not what I want to discuss."

"Then say what you want to say and hurry off to dinner, I wouldn't want to be held responsible by Cyrus if he finds out his daughter was starving herself to death because I'm just so interesting." Arthur said, sarcasm dripping from his words.

"You're not interesting." It seems as if she was pained as she said those words.

"You wound me, Greengrass." Arthur waved off Remus as he went off to the dinner hall, and with a small smile, the other Defence professor had gone.

"Shut up. Anyway, what was your boggart meant to be? That is actually what I wanted to ask you" Daphne asked.

"You say I'm not interesting but then you seem interested by what I fear the most?"

"It's a creature that I have never seen before, and your two sisters have shown me your stables and the fields. I have not seen a creature like that before. Consider me interested."

"As long as you promise me not to go hunting for one." Arthur was now glaring at the eldest Greengrass daughter.

"I promise, I'll even bond it if you want me to." 

"No, don't. There's no need." Arthur looked pained as he decided whether he should tell her.

"Okay then, tell me." Daphne pushed for an answer.

Arthur took a deep breath before answering. "It was a chort. It's classified as a relict in most magi-zoological journals and books. They are very rare around Europe, but I went on an expedition to Serbia with Professor Remus and a few others. A herd of chorts invaded, and I nearly got killed by one."

"That's it? Nearly? No horrifying scar? No remarkable battle?" Daphne laughed slightly, but was silenced by Arthur's glare.

"No, there was not. Myself and Remus had barely escaped. There were six of us. We were looking for a Kaer, or a castle, something to confirm that there used to be a Witcher presence around there. Halfway there, we had set up camp and were about to go to sleep. The largest and strongest of us, Matthew Barker, he was tackled by the largest chort I had ever seen. It gored him, there was barely anything left of him when myself and Remus returned. Remus had to lead the others away from the camp as we were the only ones who knew where we were. We were the guides, you see. I had stayed at the camp to try and save Matthew, but all that did was make things worse." 

Daphne had been shocked to hear the story. From what her father had told her, Arthur had been quite the explorer, having travelled all around the world, documenting various creatures in places like Asia and Siberia that had never been documented. That, along with being the most successful magic ingredient business man, with a few other businesses, there was a reason he was known as the richest man in the Magical World. He was admired by many, and loved by even more. The only downside is that it was very rare to see him in public, or even see him at all. Daphne considered herself one of the lucky few alongside some of the more well off pure-blooded families to know him and his family.

"What happened?" She asked, completely invested in the horrific story.

"The chort, it had finished goring Matthew. I could tell that he was the alpha, as the other chorts had begun to wander off and leave him alone. I tried, by god _I fucking tried_ to save him. He was bleeding, the horn had tore right through his stomach. There was so much blood, and he was still awake. I was half way through cleaning the wound and then the beast returned, and it tried to do to me what it did to Matthew. The horns barely missed me, and I had to stop him from crushing me between it and a tree. I took my wand, and I just… I just stabbed it. Not even a single spell. The thing about chorts is that the veins are easy to break. I saw it's neck and I just flew through the air and it collapsed on me. I got myself free, and I ran to Matthew. It was too late, because when he was charged by the chort, it had stomped on Matthew's neck. It was the scariest moment of my life, because it was the first time that I'd tried to help someone, and I'd failed."

There was an eerie silence in the Defence classroom. Harry had been as quiet as a mouse, listening but not saying a word. From what he'd heard, she was the Ice Queen of Slytherin, yet when she had wrapped her arms around the new professor, Harry realised that she really wasn't that bad. Harry had always thought that the new professor was stone cold and emotionless, he smiled occasionally, but he had never seen anything other than smiles or sarcasm from the new professor.

The story that he had just told however, had pulled at the heartstrings of Harry. He barely knew the man that called himself Arthur Noctis Urien, but to see someone that was meant to be under his protection to just be killed in the blink of an eye resonated deeply with Harry, because he knew what it was like. It was still fuzzy to Harry, but the night his parents died at the hands of Lord Voldemort was still deeply ingrained in his head.

What surprised him the most was that as Professor Urien placed his arm on her shoulder, he kissed her slightly on the head. Clearly, Daphne meant a lot to him. It was obvious to see. He heard a giggle from the both of them before Daphne left for lunch.

"I must say Potter, you have a lot of patience if you waited for me to talk to you after all that. I'm surprised you never left for lunch." 

"It's just that… it's about what happened on the train." Harry admitted.

Arthur nodded. "I see, go on, tell me what happened." Arthur conjured an ornately carved desk and two chairs and ordered Harry to sit.

"It was when the Dementor tried to… do whatever they do. I heard a scream before I fainted. I… I think it was my mum."

"I see. I remember that night vividly. Not very good, not good at all. I was with Remus when it happened."

"Remus, sir?"

"Professor Lupin. When we heard, it was one of the few times I've seen him cry. I have been friends with Remus' family for a long time, I was younger than him, and your father. I had just finished my N.E.W.T.S and Remus introduced me to your parents during the summer. They were lovely people, it was an honour to know them. I'm sorry if you've heard this before, but you have your mother's eyes."

Arthur was smiling, Harry had noticed, most likely from the fond memories. "Some of the other professors have told me that." Harry smiled at the youngest professor.

"I'm sure, I could remember them quite fondly. They had a group, called themselves The Marauders. Pranksters, like the twins."

Harry had to grin at that. He could never imagine his father, mother and Lupin acting like the Weasleys. He soon noticed that Professor Urien's eyes were beginning to shine a little more, and he quickly wiped his eyes and soon began to twirl his wand in his hand absent-mindedly. He didn't say a word for a while.

"Harry, if you need any help, don't be afraid to ask. I've only asked one person this, but I'm willing to help teach you some more complicated spells and charms as we go through the year."

Even from his first year, Harry had noticed that he something of a speciality in Defence Against the Dark Arts. Quirrel had been possessed by Voldemort and Lockheart had just been bad at his job, yet now Professor Urien was offering to help teach him the more complicated spells and charms. He had to mentally restrain himself from leaping out in joy.

"When do you want to start, Professor?" Harry asked.

"Well, I think we can do Friday after school finishes. Is three till four good enough for you?" Arthur replied.

"Yeah, and who was the other person you've offered to help?"

"Miss Greengrass. You won't have a problem with that, will you Harry?"

"None at all, Professor."

Arthur smiled at the young boy in front of him. He knew Remus would enjoy teaching Harry a little more, and it would give them time to connect, especially as Remus knew Harry's parents better than he did. Harry went to pick up his bag and leave the class.

Before he left, Harry turned. "Is it possible for us to learn a spell to ward off Dementors, sir?"

"Yes, but it is very tricky to perform. Are you asking me to teach it you and Miss Greengrass?"

"Maybe." Potter responded.

"I'll consider it."

Harry smiled and he went off to lunch, but not before thanking Arthur for the opportunity of letting him train.

 _ **X-X-X**_

 _ **If any of you are curious, a Chort is a creature of Slavic mythology. It's meant to be some kind of devilish looking creature that is on the side of Satan.**_

 _ **Well, it doesn't look like that here. I've sort of beastified the Chort in this chapter, and it's most likely that I will include some other creatures that are mythical in nature. Chorts are just one of them, and things like fiends and other foreign monsters.**_

 _ **Most of the creatures are exactly the same as the ones we've heard of, things like Griffins or Hippogriffs, but there'll be things like Bruxae, which are a different type of vampire, and other creatures like Fiends. If you want a more detailed list of creatures, I'd recommend reading The Witcher Wikia or the Fextralife for The Witcher 3.**_

 _ **And for those who want to actually see what this version of a Chort looks like, google image 'Chort, Witcher 3' and that will be the thing that is described. (or at least my pathetic attempt at it.)**_

 _ **Remember to follow, favourite and review!**_

 _ **~The Real Italian Stallion~**_


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6: Giving Back and Taking Away

It had been months since Professor Urien had mentioned to Harry that he had known his parents, and a few days after that he had asked Professor Lupin if he knew his parents too. True to Professor Urien's word, Lupin had known his parents. From what Lupin had told him, his father was a real troublemaker that very moment that he had set his first foot into Hogwarts. From what he had heard from other people, Harry had always expected his father to have been a model student, and not like the prankster twins, Fred and George Weasley.

As Professor Lupin had told him, however, it was his mother that was the true model student of the school. A master at Potions and all of her subjects in general, it had been no surprise to Harry that she had been made Gryffindor Prefect and Head Girl in her more senior years at Hogwarts. Everything he had heard, as he now knew that Professor McGonagall had taught them too, was that James was a troublemaker, and that Lily was his foil, his total opposite. Yet somehow they got together in the final year, which had surprised Harry even further when he was told that James had done so much inane, stupid and pointless yet hilarious things as an attempt to gain his mother's attention.

Only to garner her complete scorn and ire. Not that it mattered as the final year came around and they finally became an item.

Harry had found it rather hilarious when he found out, especially as he found that his father had gained the attention of quite a few girls from the school, only to have ignored them in favour of Lily. It reminded Harry of himself, just instead of lusting after someone else, he was lusted after by others. He didn't really harbour any romantic feelings toward any of the girls that he was friends or acquaintances with, not that he had that many friends or acquaintances of the opposite gender.

Harry had come to the conclusion that he was relatively hopeless when it came to dealing with the opposite gender, his only experience coming from speaking to Hermione, or bantering back and forth during Potions with Daphne, and that was when he wasn't being stared at weirdly by Ginny during his free time or just in general, being stared at weirdly by most of the female population.

 _ **Well,**_ Harry thought. **_I know I haven't inherited my dear old dad's charm, that much is for certain._**

He still had his attitude, but only when he really needed it. It was mostly a defence mechanism, Harry had realised, used only for when the Dursleys were ordering him about, or when Professor Snape was trying and failing to make a potion master out of him. He could garner a few laughs from the other Gryffindors during his classes with them, sometimes even a few of the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws stifled a laugh or giggled a bit. The Slytherins never laughed, and Harry had began to think that because of their ambition or cunning, they had given up their sense of humour.

 _ **That, or they just really don't like me. That's always a possibility.**_

Harry had remembered what Daphne had told him, that not all Slytherins were like Malfoy, and in return Harry had told her that not all Gryffindors were like Ron. The message had seemed to have gotten through to both Harry and Daphne, but it never changed anything between the houses, as much as Harry would have liked to have hoped it would have.

 _ **But I'd be hoping against hope that a Slytherin might make a friend in the brave house of lions that is the House of Gryffindor.**_

Harry had woken up early, earlier than normal for him at least. He could still hear Ron snoring, and it felt like an earthquake had just started in the third year boy dormitories. Seamus was busy talking to his imaginary girlfriend, which Harry had assumed was his other pillow. Dean was busy commentating over Quidditch matches in his sleep, which was a lot better than the ground-shaking snores or the lovey-dovey talk that Seamus was giving to his pillow.

 _ **God, I hope he won't say that to an actual girl…**_

Harry had found a clean t-shirt, threw on his jeans shoes and black jacket and left the dorms. He found that staying in the dorms for an extended amount of time was no longer helping him concentrate on his work or his training, He hopped down the stairs and left the Gryffindor area of the school. As he hopped, skipped and slid down the stairs that led to the cold and brisk outside, he felt that the worse thing could have happened, and he still would have found a way to be happy about it.

He just felt happy.

Harry assumed that it had something to do with the fact that the third year of Hogwarts had just gotten off to a wonderful start, apart from the Dementors and Sirius Black roaming free. He got to play Quidditch as much as he possibly could, he had managed to make acquaintances with the two new Defence professors as soon as he possibly could, and that had then led to him finding about his family.

His mother and father that he would never get to know other than the stories.

Harry had to admit that he enjoyed hearing things about his parents, even if it always ended with somebody feeling that they had to give him sympathy. He did not want anyone's sympathy, he had enough of that. He wanted to be Harry Potter, regular student and proud Gryffindor. That is what he wanted, and it seemed like his third year at the wizarding school had finally given him that at least, even if it did come with horrifying Dementors and an insane escaped convict.

As he walked around the grounds, and began to near the Black Lake, he had begun to twirl his wand around in his hand, watching it slide from finger to finger in relative unimportance. He stopped twirling as the harsh Scottish winds began to blow towards Harry, and he stuffed his wand in his pocket so he didn't drop it and lose it.

Harry had soon realised that he hadn't woken up too early, and he didn't want to miss out on breakfast, so he rushed towards the main hall. Harry began to hum as he made his way to the hall, which was filled with some of the older students, some of the students his age, and mostly the first years, who had began to get used to the mundane activities of Hogwarts.

 _ **Oh, how we wished that it was this mundane for our first year…**_

As Harry hummed no song in particular to himself, he began to take a few bites out of some toast, before he went exploring for the day. As soon as he had finished, he had noticed that one of the older Hufflepuff boys must have received some horrible news, as he ran out of the hall as soon as he had read his letter, and he almost looked as if he were going to burst into tears then and there.

Harry looked towards the head table, and he had watched as Professor Urien looked as if he were going to leap over the table and give chase to the Hufflepuff. Professor Urien instead jogged towards the exit to the hall, dragging Harry with him, giving chase to the boy.

"Sir, where are we going?" Harry asked, still clinging to a piece of half-eaten toast.

Professor Urien sighed. "I'm going to see what has Cedric in such a state." 

Harry had heard about Cedric Diggory, the fifth year Hufflepuff that had apparently put most of the Ravenclaws to shame as he had heard the tale. Cedric excelled in all of his classes, asking questions and answering them correctly. Harry had assumed at first that he was a child prodigy in general, but then he thought that maybe Cedric was just a really smart person.

Arthur was not dressed as he usually was, instead of the well-made suits and waistcoats that he had wore in class, he was wearing a white button up shirt and a pair of blue jeans, and he looked completely and utterly out of place as the rest of the teachers wore dress robes or something of the like. Then Harry had remembered that Professor Urien was the most Muggle-associated professor the school had ever had.

A few nights before, Harry had heard Professor Snape grumbling to Dumbledore about the new Defence professor. Apparently, Professor Snape had been begging for the job of Defence professor ever since he had joined the school staff, but had been denied ever since. Needless to say, Professor Snape was not very happy at this decision of having Professor Urien teach instead of him.

" _Serverus, is there a problem with me hiring Lord Urien as the second Defence professor?" Dumbledore had asked._

 _Snape had remained characteristically still. "He is arrogant, deluded, and he has the characteristics of someone who believes far too much in there own abilities. I believe he is dangerous, and as for Lupin, you know plenty well enough I still hold them responsible for my shoddy excuse of a childhood."_

 _Harry wasn't shocked as he tried to hold his breath under the invisibility cloak. He knew Snape had always been a selfish and vindictive man. If anything, Professor Urien was the complete opposite of what Professor Snape had said. Arrogant? There was no arrogance to him, maybe he was a bit grandiose at times, especially as he was the more practical Defence teacher, and he had been giddy when he got the entire class to get the charms and spells right for a few lessons straight. Was that really enough for the Potions professor to hate him?_

" _I believe you are wrong on all counts, Serverus." Dumbledore responded. "I believe I have made the correct choice for our second Defence professor. He is well versed in creatures of all kinds..."_

" _Then he should be the Care of Magical Creatures professor, not the Dark Arts professor? You should never have made that oaf of a giant a professor here." Snape sneered, he was against Hagrid being a professor too?_

" _Please do not interrupt me, Serverus. As I was saying, he is well versed in creatures of all kinds, and he is also well taught in the duelling and battle arts. He is the perfect professor to have for our Defence Against the Dark Arts subject. Maybe with his presence we could destroy the wretched curse on the position."Dumbledore gave a small smile, it had been a pain ever since he had became the Headmaster of Hogwarts._

 _Serverus gave a sigh of resentment. "There is no curse, all the professors you hired have failed immensely. Quirrel, Lockheart, and now we are hiring a buffoon who could endanger the children and a rich and privileged Lord who knows nothing of the world? These are your choices, Albus. You should have let me become the Defence professor."_

" _And who would have been my Potions professor, Serverus? Did you give that enough thought, or have you only thought about your own selfish desires?" Albus reeled in the cranky Potions professor._

" _You could always find that buffoon Slughorn."_

" _You forget that he is in hiding, Snape. For good reason."_

 _At that point, Harry had skulked off, giggling at Professor Snape's tantrum with the headmaster. It was funny enough to rile the greasy git up in Potions, but it was twice as hilarious to see him not get his own way. He was acting like a little child, and Harry had to cover his mouth to stop him from bursting out laughing at Snape's misfortune._

As Harry and Arthur had came upon the boys lavatories, they could hear a faint sobbing coming from inside the room. Arthur had slowly walked inside, making sure he had not intruded on accident, but so he could see where Cedric was. Harry could hear the crying getting a little bit louder, until Arthur seemed to be facing a stall where the crying seemed to have originated from. Arthur knocked quietly on the door.

"W-w-who is it?" Cedric sniffled.

"Cedric, it's Professor Urien. What's gotten you in such a state, lad? Girl troubles?" Harry could hear Cedric give a small huff as he continued to sniffle.

"No, sir. I don't need to worry about that yet." Cedric replied.

"Come on, come out and talk to me." Arthur managed to coerce the older boy out of the stall. Harry could see the red around his eyes, and quite tear tracks as well.

Harry was soon noticed by Cedric, as well as Arthur as the Hufflepuff slowly walked out of the stall before almost breaking down into tears again.

"You alright, Harry?" Cedric barely managed to say.

"Yeah, but I think it's pointless me asking you that." Harry replied.

Cedric huffed again, and in a rare show of affection, Arthur took the older boy into a hug. Harry knew he did not need to be there, but he knew Cedric slightly, more than some of the other Hufflepuffs and he felt bad for him. Harry could hear a murmur from Cedric and he immediately turned around and left. It was not his place to be there whilst Cedric was in such a vulnerable position.

When he heard Cedric reveal to Professor Urien that his father Amos Diggory had died in his sleep. Harry left to give his sort-of-friend some space. He would get some support from his friends. Harry had asked Cedric before about his family, and Cedric had replied that he lived with his dad, and nobody else. Harry knew what it was like to lose a parent, he had lost both of them to Voldemort, but Amos Diggory had apparently just kicked the bucket in the middle of the night when his heart had stopped.

As soon as he had returned to the main hall, most of the population of Hogarts had awoken, and Harry soon sat down at the table next to Ron and Hermione.

"Bloody hell mate, where have you been? We thought you'd ran off in the middle of the night when me, Dean and Seamus woke up." Ron started, shovelling bacon and eggs into his maw.

Harry sighed, and he watched as Hermione scowled at Ron's terrible table etiquette. "I woke up early, just thought I'd go for a walk. Why you so curious? You know I wake up early anyway."

Ron grimaced, but he knew Harry was right. Harry always had been an early riser, he could remember when he stayed at The Burrow just before second year had started. As always, Ron had continued to shovel food down his gob whilst Hermione nibbled on some toast as she continued to read the book she had in front of her.

"Do you ever stop reading?" Harry asked.

"Only if it's really important."

"And Sirius Black having escaped isn't important enough for you?" Harry responded, eyebrows raised.

"No, he's not after me."

 _ **That's actually a good reason to be fair, and it would make sense if Sirius Black wasn't one of Voldemort's flunkies…**_

"Just because you're not who he's looking for, it doesn't mean he won't hesitate to hurt any of us. He's a criminal, the worst kind of criminal. I doubt he wouldn't think twice about harming a child." Harry mused.

Hermione just continued to read her book, muttering about 'damned paranoia' or something of the sort. Harry had stopped paying attention to her, she was too engrossed in her book and Ron was entranced by the food that was still laid out on his plate. Harry was wary as he looked for Professor Urien and Cedric, and he soon found them entering the hall once more. Professor Urien was taking his time as he walked back to the teacher's table, and as soon as he got there he had went immediately to Professor Sprout, who had then in turn gone to see Cedric to see how he felt about the whole situation.

"What do you think happened in Hufflepuff?" Ron mumbled as he began to finish off his breakfast.

Harry had frowned when Ron asked, and Hermione had soon caught her friend's reaction. "You know what happened, don't you Harry?"

Harry's face was now one of sadness. "I got in here a bit before the earlier owls arrived, and Cedric must have got one, but he ran off balling his eyes out. Professor Urien had grabbed me and took me to follow him. His dad, Amos Diggory, died last night."

"Bloody hell, Amos is dead?" Ron was shocked to say the least, shocked enough to stop eating. "I've got to go tell Dad."

As soon as he had finished speaking, he had ran off to send a letter to his family. Apparently, Arthur was rather close with Mr. Diggory. It had saddened Harry to see his older friend in such a sorry state. Cedric was usually such a laid-back yet always energetic character, you could never miss him in Hogwarts, and it had then seemed as if the energy had been sapped right from him.

Hermione had stopped reading her book and had began to focus on the conversation. She also had looked rather put down by the news. "If it was Cedric, why did Professor Urien bring you with him?"

"I guess the professor is more observant than he appears to be." Harry had replied. "Have you ever noticed that he's always sizing people up? His eyes go steely and all. It's as if he's worried that anybody could just get up and do the Killing Curse."

Hermione wasn't surprised, as she had noticed too. "Well, the two professors are teaching Defence Against the Dark Arts, I wouldn't be surprised if they were always on edge. They have a good reason to be. Especially with Sirius Black on the loose."

Sirius Black. Every topic would always come down to that one man, Sirius Black. The first convict that ever escaped Azkaban. From what _The Daily Prophet_ had been reporting then the Department of Magical Law Enforcement were still trying to figure out how Black had escaped the infamous wizarding prison whilst the Dementors were out trying to hunt down said escaped convict.

"He won't come here, will he?" Harry had asked, slightly worried if Black was going to come for him. Every year something dangerous would revolve around himself, and he would not be surprised if he had it happen again for a third year in a row.

"Don't worry Harry, we'll be safe here."

 _ **X-X-X**_

Arthur had just finished teaching the third years the basics of Defence Against the Dark Arts, and it just slightly worried him that he may have been teaching them a little too much too early. It had been the final lesson of the day, and Arthur was all but ready to give up and sleep in the little office above his classroom. He was tired, and he had still been worrying about the whole Diggory situation.

Cedric Diggory was a good lad, and he had the makings of becoming a great man. It was clear that Amos Diggory had raised his son well. He hadn't known Amos very well, not well at all. However, he knew Cedric, and he knew Cedric would not prosper as a ward of Hogwarts. Arthur didn't need proof of it, he knew that anyone without decent guidance or people that didn't support them, people did not prosper, they floundered, they did not swim, they sank.

"Tired, Arthur?" Remus had asked.

"Dying, I think is more appropriate." Arthur whined, almost as if he were actually going to die where he was sat.

Arthur had leant back in his supple leather chair and placed his feet upon the ornate desk that held paperwork, classwork and some personal letters and things for his own businesses. It was all too much for Arthur. He was beginning to regret coming to Hogwarts. However, he could not argue that every day was at least interesting or funny.

"I doubt it. How is the Diggory boy?" Remus asked solemnly.

"In mourning, as expected. It hit him hard, Remus. The boy was weeping, that confident and intelligent boy, it wasn't there any more, Remus."

Both Remus and Arthur had a gave a depressed sigh, and Arthur had soon brought out a small bottle of fire-whiskey to douse his miserable thoughts. Death had apparently became one of Arthur's favourite people to stalk around, and apparently death enjoyed making Arthur's life miserable too. He poured two glasses and handed one of them to his good friend, and in a few seconds, the glasses of fire-whiskey were empty. The whiskey made Arthur's belly feel warmer as soon as the liquid slithered down his throat, and it made Arthur feel even sleepier.

"Why has this gotten you so down, Arthur?" Remus asked, but he soon regretted it. He knew it was a stupid question to ask.

Arthur turned to look at his fellow teacher, and he seemed to be glaring at Remus. "Did you really just ask me that question, Remus? I thought it was obvious why I'm so bloody riled by this."

"I know, I'm sorry."

"Apology accepted. I know how the Diggory boy feels, and it has been two months ever since that my own father died in front of my eyes. Cedric, he didn't even get to say goodbye, never got hear his father's final words. I don't know how a world like this can be so cruel to some of the best people. Poor Harry, had his parents taken away from him at the tender age of four, and now Cedric never even got to say goodbye to his father as he lay dying." Arthur had finished, and he felt as if he had just let out the majority of the frustration.

Remus gave a sigh and just looked at his friend. He knew that Arthur was the most optimistic out of the group. He had been a good friend to James and Lily themselves, and had Sirius' bad habits, that which being his constant attempts to getting into girls' knickers. It had been almost annoying at times, but the bickering and bantering of Sirius and Arthur had been a good source of laughs for the small group of school-friends. Now, however, his humour and bickering had disappeared. Ever since that fateful night where Lily and James were taken away from them, and Sirius had been thrown into Azkaban without a trial, it had been hard to see his younger friend in such a state. James and Sirius had meant the world to Arthur, and when they were taken it had destroyed him. His only comfort being the relative non-publicity his family had garnered. He nested in Reddington Manor, throwing himself into all of his work alongside his own father.

Grief had apparently made a great motivator for the two Urien men, and soon their businesses were thriving, even more than usual. Of course, when Remus had asked how this had happened, Arthur refused to believe that the great returns that period of time were because of his choices, and instead he told people that it was his father's wise decisions and investments that made them the money. However, nobody else believed the younger Urien boy, and people knew that it had most definitely been Arthur's choices that made the most money.

"What are you thinking about?" Remus asked.

"I sent a letter to my dear mother and sister, about adoption."

Remus' eyes widened. "You want to adopt? Why, can't you..."

"I'm perfectly capable of performing in that way, you pervert. I'm thinking of adopting Cedric." Arthur had revealed.

Remus was silent. He had never taken Arthur to be someone who would be responsible for somebody else's children, but then he realised that Arthur was teaching at Hogwarts and that Remus' own point had been made moot.

"And, what did they say?" Remus asked.

"Luna was very open to the idea, and so was Mother. I think Mother misses that her children are either away or..."

"Dead." Remus finished.

"Yes, and I can't exactly blame her for being like that. My mother is so distraught whenever I bring up Robert. She goes quiet whenever I bring up William, and we still don't know what happened to him! My sister, Anastasia, she was a little baby when she died in her sleep. If I ever bring up any of my siblings that are no longer with us, my mother always ends up crying and balling her eyes out."

"Has she even gotten past the fact that your father..." Remus tried to make another point, but he was interrupted again.

"My father was dead long before he was actually taken. He was not capable of feeling a thing, he could not empathise, he could not give sympathy. He could not even congratulate me, when I tried my best and still never became first. He wanted perfection, and he didn't want mistakes. He would hit me, abuse me, tell me the worst things that he could imagine, and I was his son! He could not love, he could not love me, he could not love my sisters, and he could not even love Mother. As far as I'm concerned now, he was the worst a man could be, and an even worse father. He's lucky I only despise him, if I hated him any more than I do now, I would have killed him myself." 

_**Even if he was meant to be immortal, I still would have bloody tried.**_

Arthur had sighed, and he looked at Remus as his friend began to look at his friend with sorrow in his eyes. "I didn't know you felt that way, Arthur. I'm so-"

"Don't apologise. It was my fault I clustered myself with him, and it's my fault I ever listened to him when he said those things to me. I should never have gone back to him. I should have stayed with you and tried to find Harry."

Arthur stood up from his desk and grasped the bottle of fire-whiskey once more. He glared at the fiery liquid, and it seemed as if he were having trouble deciding whether he was going to drink himself to death, or do something a bit more sensible. He took the bottle and placed it back inside the cupboards of his desk, and went to walk out of the hall.

"Where are you going, Arthur?"

"Firstly, I'm going to see if Dumbledore will allow me to do something to help one person at least. If not, well I'll ask Diggory himself and see what his opinion on this situation is."

Remus didn't stop Arthur from doing what he did. He didn't want to, and he knew that if he did he would most likely end up being forced through the walls of the ancient and decrepit school. He almost said a prayer for good luck, but then Remus remembered that he had papers to mark from the students, and he quickly closed himself in his office and hoped for the best.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7: Extra Lessons

 _ **Time for some replies!**_

 _ **AngelDanny: You'll be getting both, but considering that I still need to flesh out Arthur's character. You'll get your Harry, just be patient. Nothing hard about that.**_

 _ **Guest (you know who you are): Emboldened italics are the thoughts of the characters that I am focusing on at that moment. The 'X-X-X' is a time skip and character change. How is Arthur and Remus' friendship improbable? Arthur is 29 and Remus is 33. Yeah, there is a four year gap, doesn't mean Arthur and the Marauders can't be friends during their Hogwarts years. Just because he tames creatures doesn't mean he can't fight. Keep in mind his father was a Knight of the Round Table and legendary wizard, if you were Dumbledore, you would kill for someone trained in such a way. Arthur has travelled, like his father, learnt to tame beasts and fight in many ways, he could do both lessons if he wanted.**_

 _ **And now to continue with the story:**_

 _ **X-X-X**_

 _ **The Gryffindor Common Room**_

It had been a few weeks since the drama around Cedric had died down, yet Harry still felt bad for his friend. Anybody who knew Cedric felt bad for him, and was grieving with him. Harry at least knew the feeling of losing one's parents, even if he could not remember it personally, he would relieve it every time a Dementor floated close by a window during a class, or whenever it would fly past the Gryffindor dormitories.

The Quidditch schedule had finally been announced, and the next match that Harry and the Gryffidor team would be playing would be against the Hufflepuff team. Harry knew he would end up having to against Cedric Diggory, but Harry had figured that the older boy would be at a bit of an emotional disadvantage, and may have been put off his game.

Yet when Harry had asked Cedric himself, Cedric had stubbornly refused to sit out of the match and vowed to gain Hufflepuff another victory. The house of Hufflepuff had been on a roll since the start of the year, and it was mostly due to Cedric's hard work.

Of course, Ron had not really cared. "So? It'll be his fault if he falls off his broom." Ron had declared.

"Ronald, his father has died! How can you be so insensitive?" Hermione had all but screeched. "How would you like it if your father had died and you had no family left?!"

The argument between the insensitive redhead and the screeching brunette had began to pain Harry's ears, and it had drawn the attention of almost all of the Gryffindor house mates. Harry was sat with Neville, who was going through his Herbology notes.

"Do you think they'll ever stop?" Neville asked as he flicked through his notes.

"Doubt it, Nev. These arguments usually always end with one of them or either of them storming off, it's just a matter of waiting and seeing who goes first." Harry stated, bored of the arguing.

"Oh," Neville said. "How often do they do this?"

"Often enough to make me want to tear off my ears and shove them where the sun don't shine."

Neville had began to laugh uncomfortably as he corrected errors and flick through more of his notes. The arguing had begun to get louder and louder, and soon Hermione had stormed off to the girls' dorms, leaving Ron to continue playing chess with Dean. Harry sighed and leant back in his chair as the silence thankfully returned and began to encompass the Gryffindor common room once more.

His thoughts were drifting. What would he do when the year finished? He knew that it was most likely that the Dursleys would not want to take him back into their house again. Especially not after what he had done to Marge. Harry sighed again, and he realised that he didn't want to be staying in The Leaky Cauldron. It just wouldn't do. Soon the twins had made their way towards Neville and Harry, and had began to speak in the unique way that they always did, that which was called twin-speak.

"What's up, Harry?" Fred began.

"What's gotten you down?" George finished.

"Hermy and Ronnikins arguing?" Fred started.

"Well, there not anymore." George ended.

Some people would say that they were annoyed when the twins spoke they way did. It did get a little grating sometimes and the Slytherins definitely did not appreciate the liveliness the Weasley twins brought to the school, but at least they never argued.

"I know they're not, guys. Still, they won't talk to each other for ages now, aside from the odd witty barb here and there."

"Oh, well. It'll be fine..."

"...Soon enough at least."

The two twins went off and began to terror some of their other friends, namely Angelina Johnson and Katie Bell. Harry watched with amusement as the two girls tried to swat at Fred and George as they hovered around them like annoying flies that buzzed around them. Harry smirked as he watched their antics from the darkened corner that he and Neville were sat in, and soon Neville had began to laugh too. The older girls noticed the loud laughing coming from the corner of the common room and soon Angelina gave harrowing frown that made Harry shiver.

"Nev?"

"Yeah, Harry?"

"Remind me to never get on Angelina's bad side."

"Harry?"

"Yeah, Nev?"

"Don't get on Angelina's bad side."

Harry stared at his normally shy and reserved friend. He smirked and Neville smiled back as the two began to laugh at each other for no reason. After their sudden outburst of laughter, and long after the twins had finished conducting their risky business, the two younger boys had retreated back to bed for the night, ready for whatever would happen in the morning.

 _ **X-X-X**_

 _ **The Slytherin Common Room**_

Daphne woke up at her regular time of 8;30 and was dressed and ready for her classes in a short amount of time. She put her silky blonde hair in a simple pony tail and quickly did her make-up before strutting out of her room as The Ice Queen. Tracey had soon accompanied her as they managed to escape the dungeon before Draco and his goons caught up with them. As the year progressed, Malfoy and his idiotic followers had taken to harassing Daphne more frequently, and he constantly mentioned that his father was in talks with her own father, Cyrus Greengrass.

However, Daphne knew that her father would never force her into something so horrifying as a marriage contract with Draco Malfoy.

At least she hoped he would not.

 _ **X-X-X**_

As Daphne and Tracey made their way to Defense Against the Dark Arts, they had been the first to notice that Harry had been the first to get to the class, and was having a rather informal conversation with both Professor Urien and Professor Lupin. Daphne had noticed that over the weeks leading up to Christmas that Harry and Arthur had been getting closer, with Arthur and Professor Lupin divulging the best thing Harry could ever get, or at least what she thought was the best Harry could get.

Tales and memories of Harry's parents. From what she had heard, his mother and father had became a great witch and wizard respectively. Apparently her father had been one of the first to hear about the horrible yet relieving night.

It had brought the death of the Dark Lord, Voldemort.

Yet it also caused the death of James and Lily Potter.

Soon, both Daphne and Tracey had entered the room and they were instantly noticed by Arthur, and then subsequently noticed by Harry.

"Miss Greengrass, Miss Davies, a little early aren't you?" Arthur asked.

"We'd rather not be anywhere near Malfoy's general vicinity. I say we, Daphne ran away as fast as she could and I followed her because of the combined stench of Crabbe and Goyle." Davies replied.

Arthur smirked at Davies, she was probably one of the better ones at Defence, second best behind Daphne and just ahead of Hermione Granger. For all of the reading she did, it definitely did not help Hermione's practical skill whatsoever. However, the combined effort from both Daphne and Tracey made it hard to decide who was better. Arthur had been curious, and had created a list of his students and who was the best out of both boys and girls. For the boys, it was an easy decision to make.

Harry Potter.

"Well, it's a good enough reason. Harry, Daphne, I have told Professors Hagrid and Vector that you will be staying behind for extra Defence."

There was a nod from both Harry and Daphne, and soon the three had somewhat managed to begin a decent conversation. It veered from topic to topic, from Qudditch, to their combined hatred of Malfoy, and the dreaded escaped convict that was Sirius Black.

Arthur had doubted that Sirius Black would be able to even get near Hogsmeade without the Dementors sensing him. From the letters he received from his mother, she had told him that the DMLE were still trying to find out how he broke out.

Harry had sounded the most worried out of all them. The students and even Harry himself had complained that it was never a quiet year for Harry Potter, and that there was always something happening that involved him and his friends. For the first year, it was the Philosopher's Stone debacle, and in the second year it had been something to do with the Chamber of Secrets, but Arthur had yet to hear about the full story about that, and he had soon decided he would have to ask him after the class had ended.

Soon enough, the rest of the class had begun to file in, some were dreading another practical lesson like Neville and Ron, whilst some seemed far too excited like Harry and Daphne and Tracey. The class quickly placed their bags at the back of the room and had begun to get their wands ready.

"Sir, where is Professor Lupin?" Hermione had inquisitively asked.

Arthur had frowned, it had been a full moon the night before, and the was not enough Wolfsbane to keep him suppressed. "Mr. Lupin is recovering from a rather bad headache. I'll be teaching the lesson today, be thankful I'm here. If I wasn't you would have Snape."

The class breathed a collective sigh of relief, especially the Gryffindors and most of all, Harry. As they grouped together in their houses, Arthur took to his classroom, or 'his stage' as he preferred to call it and began to speak.

"Now then, as I don't teach theory, we will be learning practical work which I guess you all know by now. We'll be learning to use movement spells, jinxes and hexes. We'll start with a simple spell, the Impedimenta. Depending on the intention of the caster, it will either trip, freeze, bind or knock back the target. It's an easy way to create distance between you and an enemy. The incantation is 'Impedimenta'. Now then, I will pair you up with a member of the opposite house."

With his final words, the members of his class began to groan and moan as they began to come to terms with having to work with each other. Arthur delighted in creating misery, and according to Professor McGonagall it was crucial to becoming a teacher.

At least, that was what she said when Arthur and Minerva had a lovely midday lunch on the previous Sunday. Soon, Arthur had begun to set the Gryffindors and the Slytherins into the pairs and set them off into their work.

"Hermione, your with Pansy. Draco, with Ron. Neville, go to Miss Davies. Finally, Harry with Daphne."

As the students paired up, he made an example with the use of a mannequin on the other side of the room. **"Impedimenta!"** Arthur had shouted. As he had said before, the mannequin's legs had been bound.

Arthur looked at his class, and soon they got to work as soon as the demonstration was over. Harry and Daphne had taken to the spell like fishes to water. Hermione had taken to binding, freezing and tripping Pansy, and she made a right fool of the Slytherin girl. Draco and Ron had been the worst, both of them almost trying to get the ropes of the binding to wrap around each other's throats. Neville had done better than expected with the help of Daphne.

As everyone else seemed to be handling the Impedimenta with some modicum of skill, talent or luck, Arthur went over to Harry and Daphne. "Well done you two." The pair smiled, and both speaking at the same time, they said. "Thank you, sir."

"No need for thanks, your very capable wizards. Obviously you can handle the Impedimenta, so now you can try the Incarcerous. The incantation is the same, just say 'Incarcerous' and you should see the desired effect."

As the two advancing teenagers faced each other once more, Daphne ducked Harry's attempt at immobilising her and returned fire with her own, ropes wrapping around his arms, body and legs, and it soon led to him fulling into a heap onto the floor. Daphne soon got rid of the ropes and smirked at Harry, who was lying on the floor, smiling and scowling at his misfortune.

"Well, Potter, I never took you for the submissive type." Daphne mocked.

Harry had tried to stifle a laugh, but failed. "I never thought you'd be so dominating, Greengrass."

Both Harry and Daphne smirked. "Looks like we're both full of surprises, wouldn't you say?"

As the class continued to use the Impedimenta, Daphne was still trying to get rid of the ropes. Both Harry and Daphne noticed Professor Urien smirking to himself as Daphne had to place her hands near Harry's groin area to get rid of some of the ropes.

"Don't get too excited, Harry. She isn't called the Ice Queen for nothing." Arthur poked.

"Shut up." Both of them replied.

Arthur had raised his eyebrows at the quick and irate reply. The two were decent partners at least, and they had some kind of chemistry, constantly barbing and mocking each other at either of their weaknesses, but it sounded like they didn't mean it.

Soon enough, Harry had been set free from the effects of the Incarcerous and was back up on his feet, and now he had began to try and dodge some of the incoming spells that were coming from Daphne, all aimed for some of his more precious and delicate parts. Harry had begun to use some shield charms and harmless jinxes, as if mocking her by not using the Incarcerous or the Impedimenta.

It had been rather amusing for Harry, to see his partner get more and more irate as she failed to hit Harry. He was showing how he was the best in Defence Against the Dark Arts.

As Daphne got progressively more angry, Harry used it to his advantage. He went on the offensive, beginning to try and disarm her or at least a soft stinging hex. If anything, he was being kind. Harry quickly cast three stingers and as she began to block them, she had completely ignored that Harry had quickly managed to successfully cast the Incarcerous curse on her, and she was soon lying on the floor, immobilised.

Now instead of Daphne, it was Harry that had the confident smirk on his face. "Seems you gotten yourself quite tied up there, haven't you Miss Greengrass?"

"Haha, very funny. Untie me, Potter. Now."

Harry continued to smirk, and even Arthur was grinning as Daphne squirmed and struggled to be free of the ropes that had wrapped around her. If anything, Harry and Daphne managing to actually use the Incarcerous was a surprise to Arthur. He hadn't met many children who could actually cast it.

Then again, he didn't spend a lot of time around children. He wasn't like that.

"As much as I enjoy watching you get along, flirting doesn't fit in with Defence, find somewhere else to do that. Untie her, Potter. If you don't, she'll probably end up freezing your..."

"Yeah, yeah, she isn't called the Ice Queen for nothing. Fine, be free Miss Greengrass." Harry sighed, and Daphne began to brush the dust off of her skirt.

Daphne scowled at Harry, apparently unhappy about being played like a fool when she usually excelled in every lesson. She hated to admit it, but Potter had most definitely played her for a fool, like he did with whoever he was paired up in Defence Against the Dark Arts.

Soon, Arthur had taken to the stage again. "Well done all of you, for attempting and some of you, mastering the Impedimenta. Now then, homework!"

The class collectively groaned in response to the cheerful mention of homework. Harry shrugged and placed a reminder in his notebook so he could do it at another time. The class soon began to pack up and head to their next lessons, and both Daphne and Harry had stayed behind. Arthur had smiled at the pair of them, twirling his wand in his hand whilst he whistled some sort of happy tune to himself.

"Well done, the pair of you. Not many children master the Incarcerous at your age. Maybe starting with the Impedimenta is a little too easy for the likes of you two. I'll have to find some more difficult spells for you in the mean time." Arthur began to mumble to himself.

"Why have you kept us behind, sir?" Harry asked.

"Because the both of you show great capability in Defence Against the Dark Arts. Now, I won't be teaching spell-work, but instead I'll be teaching you how to fight in different ways. Mostly the muggle ways whilst Professor Lupin will be teaching you spell-work, and possibly, at Harry's request, the Patronus."

"The Patronus?" Daphne gasped. "But, even some adult wizards can't perform it! How will we fare any better?"

Arthur's smile had died somewhat, and turned into a smaller frown. "Ask Professor Remus, he will know better than I. However, I do know that it is not completely impossible."

The pair of students went silent, they would be learning to perform the Patronus charm? It had seemed that both of them, the shock had not really worn off. However, it soon did when Arthur had gone away and returned with two wooden staffs.

"Professor, what are they?" Harry asked.

Arthur threw the two staffs towards Harry and Daphne, and whilst Daphne barely managed to catch it, Harry had gone and dropped his to the floor. Arthur smirked and handed it to Harry.

"These are Bo Staffs, well, practice ones at least. I'm not gonna trust you with actual weapons with other than these and your wands until you both know how to attack and defend with some modicum of skill."

"And why are we learning to fight without wands?" Daphne returned with another question.

"Because people will not fight fair, they will disarm you and kill you where you stand or just torture you until you can't take it any more. They may not happen to be around now, but it will happen some time, and I want you to be prepared. This way, you will have some other way of defending yourself, and as time goes by, I may allow you to use other weapons, possibly daggers and other types."

Arthur had began to drone on, sitting by his desk and taking a bottle of fire-whiskey from the finely carved wooden desk that sat just by the staircase leading up to the Dark Arts office. He took a quick glass and downed the liquid in a few seconds. Harry and Daphne stared at their… unique teacher. After all, it was what they had came to think of him, he was unique, he was unlike any other magic user they had ever met. Harry had met some, and they all looked down upon or despised anything muggle.

"Will it hurt?" The both of them asked.

Arthur giggled maniacally, before putting it to an end. "Depends on how hard you hit each other. Now both of you take off your shoes and your jumpers, they'll slow you down."

The pair obediently did so and Arthur began to teach them how to hold the staffs.

"Now, hold the staffs by the middle..."

 _ **X-X-X**_

Both Daphne and Harry had walked out of the Dark Arts, covered in bruises and scratches, cuts and scrapes. They were tired and had missed both their second and third lessons. However, the both of them had some sort of fun.

They had teased each other as they trained, and soon both Professor Urien and Professor Remus soon after had began to spectate as they began to analyse each other, their movements and patterns, trying to see who would go first.

"How's your arm, Greengrass?" Harry had asked, stroking his cuts on his upper leg.

Daphne semi-smiled. "Healing nicely, how's the leg?" She replied.

"Stings. Stings like hell."

The two of them had began to laugh at their misfortune. Professor Urien had been rather rough and tumble with the pair of them before setting them on each other. Harry had managed to trip Daphne up with his staff, and she had landed rather badly on her arm.

In return, Daphne had smacked the practice staff against Harry's legs, most likely as a warning to never try that again. However, Harry never listened, and soon the two of them began to try and goad each other.

"Good, it's what you get for tripping me up."

"I thought you liked being on your back, Greengrass?" Harry smirked, but his smirk was replaced with a scowl as Daphne punched him in the leg.

"Just because I had to remove some rope from around your tool doesn't mean anything, Potter."

"Yeah, yeah, of course it doesn't." Harry muttered, receiving another punch to the thigh. "OW! Can you not do that?"

"Wimp. I thought you could take the pain." Daphne replied, sarcastically.

Daphne soon sped up as she made her way to the main hall for lunch, and Harry had slowed down at first. Letting her go first, he had preferred to be on his own ever since the year started, especially since Hermione and Ron could not stop arguing. He preferred the silence, or Neville.

At least Neville didn't about chess or quidditch all the time. Harry could actually hold a decent conversation with Neville, and since the year had started, Harry and Neville had soon became a lot closer, becoming good friends, and possible best friends. The Weasley twins had accepted Harry as a third prankster, getting him involved in pranks all around the school, on anybody ranging from Slytherins to even their fellow Gryffindors.

"Come on, Potter. I haven't got all day!" Daphne yelled as she jogged to the hall, desperate to not miss lunch.

Harry sighed, and began to follow her. Daphne laughed as Harry made his way to her, quicker than before. Harry had soon realised that aside from the teasing and taunting, he and Daphne got along rather well for a Gryffindor and Slytherin. Harry and Daphne hurriedly made their way to the hall, saying goodbye to each other before making their way to their respective house tables. Daphne had sat herself with Tracey Davies as Harry had expected, and Harry had sat with across from Ron and Hermione, next to Neville, just as Daphne had predicted.

Sadly, lunch had devolved into madness as Harry and Neville were caught in the crossfire of which was another of Ron and Hermione's arguments.

 _ **X-X-X**_

 ** _I am extremely sorry that there is not much new stuff in this chapter, but I promise, that on my worthless writing skills, I will introduce the Quidditch match next time, although it may not be as long as the other chapters._**

 _ **Remember to follow, favourite and review!**_

 _ **~The Real Italian Stallion~**_


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8: Revelio

"Good luck, Harry!"

Those were the last words that Harry had heard before he hopped on top of his broom and shot off into the rainy Scottish skies to play against Hufflepuff. Wood being the captain he was, had gone extremely hard on them during practice and Harry was hurting and sore all over, even when he had tried to sit down in the common room. He knew complaining wasn't going to do any good for him, and he soon refused to do so, handling his small pains in silence so he did not bother his own classmates.

As he observed the pitch before the match began, he could only presume that the weather would only get worse as the match progressed. He took his position, overlooking the entire pitch and watching as Madam Hooch let loose the various balls, before quickly gaining sight of the Golden Snitch, before losing it in the wind and rain. He could feel the freezing cold on his skin as the rain threw itself against him, and Harry could have swore he felt his hands begin to tremble at multiple points before the match had begun.

 **Keep calm, Harry, they're only nerves, it's been a while since you were last on a broom, you'll be fine as soon as you catch that snitch…**

Soon, the teams had devolved into complete chaos, as the rain had wrought ruin upon both teams' well prepared plans. As Harry looked over the pitch, searching for the snitch before Diggory could find it, he felt himself beginning to slip upon the wet surface of his broom, and in quick response, Harry had tightened his grip. He watched and let a big smile shine on his face as Fred and George Weasley had continuously managed to keep the Hufflepuff attackers from scoring points, and it continued even after Katie Bell and Angelina Johnson had scored the first goals, making the game go 20-0 to Gryffindor.

With the game under way, it had gotten rather violent rather fast. Fred and George Weasley had shown no mercy to the Hufflepuffs, laughing all the way as they zoomed around the pitch, taking in the adulation of the Gryffindor supporters, and bellowing even louder when they zoomed past the Hufflepuffs. There wasn't much booing coming from them, unlike the Slytherins, who had taken every chance to boo the Gryffindors whenever they could. Later, Angelina Johnson had yet again broke past the defenders and scored another three times, until the Hufflepuffs finally made their mark with three goals of their own, making the score 50-30.

It hadn't taken Harry long to realise that Diggory must have seen the snitch, and had zoomed off effortlessly in order to win the match quickly for his own house. Harry had soon followed the older boy, just barely tailing him, and with all the wind and rain, it had been a miracle for Harry to have even laid eyes on the snitch that was just a few centimetres away from him. He wanted to curse both Diggory and himself, Diggory for noticing the snitch before him, and himself for letting himself get caught up in the match instead of focusing on looking for the snitch.

"Keep trying, Potter!" Cedric yelled with a smile. "You'll reach the snitch one day, but it won't be today!"

"Eyes forward, Diggory. Don't want to end up hurting yourself before losing the match!" Harry had replied.

Harry zoomed forward on his Nimbus, and was neck and neck with Diggory, and both of them had began to reach for the snitch, each time failing to grab the small winged ball as it flew.

Suddenly, the ball flew straight up into the air and following it was Harry and Cedric. The snitch threw itself completely vertically, not even bothering to bank left or right, but instead just go straight up. Harry could feel the cold rain spray against his face, and he could just feel the blood begin to drain from his face. He kept his hands wrapped right around his Nimbus, and he almost experienced flying on a broom without sitting, as he almost lost his seat atop his broom.

"Can you keep up, Potter?" Cedric yelled over the thunder.

The rain began to storm down on the two opposing seekers, and it began to make their job even harder to try and catch the snitch as it flew erratically, dodging and weaving through the air, avoiding every attempt from both Cedric and Harry as they tried to catch it.

Soon enough, it sounded like the skies themselves had been cursed by the gods, and thunder and lightning echoed all around them, streaks of light bolting past them down to the ground. The two had soon stopped shouting too each other, both too focused on trying to catch the snitch.

As the pair focused on trying to catch the snitch, Harry could have swore that he felt something happen, it was so noticeable that he could sense it the very moment it happened. The wind and rain felt heavier and had begun to feel like sleet pounding on his skin, and if his eyes were deceiving him, it looked as if a collection of clouds had formed…

 **The Grim?**

Harry quickly looked around, and he then noticed that he could not see Cedric anywhere, and the only other thing he could see other than the clouds was the faint outline of the snitch. He then saw a something that seemed to look like black cloth floating through the air, and then two, and then three more.

Harry then felt the happiness he had been feeling as he begun the match evaporate, stolen away as soon as the Dementors had begun to close in. He could hear faint noises that had begun to sound like horrified screams or shouts. Harry had attempted to fly as erratically as he could, staying as far away from the Dementors as he could. He had given up on retrieving the snitch, it was not as important as trying to escape those would probably kill him if they even got close to him.

Harry twisted and turned through the air, diving with the wind and rain at his back as the Dementors followed him down to the ground. Some Dementors had intentionally tried to block him, making it easier for Harry to dodge around them as he tried to get back to the ground.

That was until one of seemed to appear straight from below them.

Harry could feel every ounce of life and happiness leave him, as it felt that the Dementor was trying to suck his very soul out from his body. The tight grip he had on his broom had disappeared, and he felt every single nerve in his body fry and shrivel out of existence. As his hands moved further from his broom, his legs and soon his entire body left the broom too, and he could then feel himself fly through the air helplessly.

The only thing he could hear were the distant begs and screams of his mother on that one fateful night.

 **X-X-X**

As soon as Arthur had heard Dumbledore bellowing 'Aresto Momentum!' his first instinct was to look back to the skies above. Diggory had been the unfortunate victim of a Dementor attack, and as soon as Arthur got to the pitch, he was met by most of the Hufflepuff and Gryffindor teams scurrying inside to get changed as the quidditch match was cancelled due to the unscheduled Dementor visit.

Arthur, with Madame Pomfrey had been the quickest two on the pitch. Although neither of them had no idea why the Dementors had shown up when they did, Arthur had good reason to confront whoever had thought it was a good idea to set them loose on school grounds and punch them hard across the face.

If anything, Arthur had guessed that it was an idiotic decision on Cornelius Fudge's behalf.

He soon lost the thought of punching an idiot, when he saw the slowly descending and unconscious body of Harry Potter also falling from the sky. The Dementors had saw fit to try and almost kill two young and model students of the school. As soon as Harry had floated back to the floor, Healer Pomfrey had summoned two stretchers and ordered the two boys back to the hospital inside the wizarding school.

Cedric had been in a bit of a state when he had woke up, with it being his first time being attacked by a group of rogue Dementors. He was quickly given some chocolate from Arthur and a dose of dreamless sleep to recover, surrounded by his teammates and best friends.

It had seemed that Harry had it worse though, the Dementors had gotten close enough to almost give the Boy-Who-Lived the Kiss. That would not have been very good to read in _The Daily Prophet,_ Arthur had thought. Arthur had elected to keep watch over Harry whilst Pomfrey took watch over Cedric. Friends of both boys had come and gone, and some brave student had managed to salvage what was left of Harry's Nimbus, which had apparently went twelve rounds with the Whomping Willow and came out broken and torn apart.

Arthur really had nothing else to do, it was the weekend and the school was meant to be enjoying the quidditch matches that would have been put on. However, since the Dementors had ruined all the fun, and the weather seemed to be getting more uncooperative, his schedule seemed to be free for all weekend other than helping Remus plan the next week's lessons, bit even that didn't take too long.

He watched over the boy as he slept, apparently the attack had been worse than normal, and it resulted in having to give Harry a bit of dreamless sleep too until he woke up. The boy was looking a little too pale, so Arthur had began to pull Harry's blanket up to his chest. The boy was extremely cold too, but that was likely a side effect of the terrible weather, and not the Dementors. Arthur then conjured himself a simple wooden chair and sat himself down. He took a few breathes and continued to watch over the young boy lying in front of him.

The more he watched over him, the more it occurred to Arthur that James' son had really taken his father's genes. Although Arthur had not seen Harry before, he could tell that he would very likely end up looking like his father, the only exception being that he had Lily's bright green eyes. The other outlier being the ugly scar on Harry's forehead, a grim reminder of the price of winning the war.

The boy had lost his parents, and there was no other way to replace the loss of a parent. Arthur knew that pain all too well.

The boy began to twitch slightly, and soon he had began to wake up from his induced sleep. He was grasping around, trying to get his glasses until Arthur had gently placed them on his head. Harry rubbed at his eyes, getting rid of the sleep before speaking.

"Professor Urien? Why are you here?" He asked.

"Is it wrong of a teacher to care for his students?" Arthur asked in response.

"Not really, it's just that I don't get many visitors. Usually Ron and Hermione and some other Gryffindors, but that's about it. Teacher wise, it's only McGonagall or Dumbledore visit."

"If you would prefer it if I left, Harry, I can go if you prefer to be in the company of your friends." 

"No, don't go. Please."

There was a tinge of desperation in Harry's voice when he spoke, but Arthur didn't blame him. He had been the unlucky victim of a Dementor, and whatever he had seen most likely scared him to a degree. Arthur had stood up when he had offered to leave, but now he had sat back down. As soon as he had made himself comfy, Pincher the crow had taken his spot on Arthur's shoulder, and Onyx the wolf had prowled into the hospital wing and began to lie beside Potter's bed.

"Interesting pets, you've got there." Harry stated with a smirk.

"You're lucky, Pincher here does what he says on the tin, and it's all he ever does. Onyx, well, I don't know, he's a little lost."

As soon as Arthur had finished speaking, the wolf had stood on his hind legs and placed his two front paws on the bed, so he could get a closer look at Harry. Arthur watched curiously as the wolf seemed to keep on nudging Harry over and over again, trying to get the young boy's attention.

"He doesn't seem too lost to me, Professor."

"Apparently not, Harry. He's usually not always like this. He guess he just wants a fuss, I suppose, he was always like that with me when I was your age."

As Onyx continued to gain the attention he wanted, Harry had been relatively quiet, occasionally taking a glance at Cedric who was still sleeping. Harry grimaced and continued to pet Onyx as the overgrown wolf began to whine for more attention.

"Sir, what will happen to Cedric now?" Harry asked.

Arthur sighed. "I can't tell you this, Harry, but Dumbledore thinks it best to give him to the Ministry of Magic and let them sort it. They'll place him in some kind of orphanage I bet, the..." Arthur finished, and it almost sounded like he was about to growl.

"Oh, is that it?" Harry asked once more.

"When you become the Lord of your house, you'll soon realise that what other ways of life there are, they are not good. You are lucky, you were born into a Most Ancient and Most Noble house, the House of Potter to be exact. It's the same with me, just that my own House, the House of Urien, is very very old."

Harry had been silenced. When Onyx had realised that Harry was still trying to process what had been said to him, the wolf had nuzzled Arthur's hand as Harry tried to come to grips with what had just been said.

"I'm… I'm a Lord? Of a House?"

A look of concern furrowed on Arthur's face when Harry had finished speaking. How could Harry not know that he was a Lord of House Potter? Why was it not explained to him?

"You didn't know this before hand, I presume?" Arthur responded.

"I had never been told. Ever."

"You do get your letters from Gringots, don't you Harry?"

"At the end of every month, for my trust account, yes. I haven't been told I have another account, or if I even was a Lord to begin with. Nobody tells me anything, I guess I just never bothered to ask." Harry sighed, still trying to grasp what he had been told.

"Listen to me very closely, Harry. The entirety of wizarding society, at least in Britain, is run by the House System. The Lords and Ladies are the leaders of the houses, and they are members of the Wizengamot. The Wizengamot is the huge collection of Lords and Ladies that help decide the laws and decrees of the wizarding world. I am one of them, and so are you too. In fact, you are one of the most powerful members of the Wizengamot, but apparently somebody has declined to give you this delicate information."

Harry seemed like he was about to go in shock. His face paled, and the colour left him in seconds. According to Professor Urien, he was a very powerful person in the wizarding world, and not just some idol for boys and girls to look up to.

"So, your saying my dad was a Lord of House Potter too?"

"Yes, exactly that, and his father before him, and so on and so forth. Your mother was the Lady of House Potter, but she was a muggleborn witch, and some utter idiots decided she wasn't good enough to be considered a Lady of such a great house."

Arthur had a feeling he would be answering a lot of questions. "But why, sir?" 

"Because this world is extremely prejudiced. Blood rules here, and I presume you've seen it yourself. I don't doubt that Draco Malfoy waves his status like the national flag." 

"He does, he waves it in everyone's faces, he calls Hermione..."

"He calls her what? Mudblood?"

"Yes. All the time. She tries to help me and Ron whenever they come around, but they always call her that. The first time was in second year, she fought Malfoy, and when Ron tried to defend her honour, he was cursed and Malfoy called her a mudblood before running off. Ever since, that is what they call Hermione whenever they see her." 

"Blood purity is possibly the worst concept somebody has ever came up with. I'm half-blood myself, and probably a better wizard then most people, and that says a lot. Blood means nothing in actuality. I could probably beat, for example, Professor Lupin, who is… complicated, but Professor Lupin could beat Lord Malfoy, who is completely pure-blooded."

The next few hours passed quickly, and it was filled with questions coming from Harry, who knew very little of the wizarding world, and he was given answers from Arthur, who had vowed that he would assist Harry in any way he could to try and find out why he didn't know about his very own lordship.

However, he could not stay in the hospital wing for long, and soon Harry had wished to try and converse with Cedric when he had finally awakened, to try and make another friend.

'Or at least try to' is what Harry had added.

Onyx had decided to stick by Harry's side as he made himself comfortable in the hospital wing. Arthur had to laugh when Onyx seemed to prance happily away from Arthur. It had amused Arthur to some degree, knowing that the wolf liked Harry Potter more than Arthur himself.

As soon as Arthur and Pincher had reached Arthur's personal quarters Pincher had flew off to sit on his perch once more, and instead of taking to his usual habit of annoying his owner, he began to peck and clean his wings whilst Arthur began to write a letter.

 _Dear Luna (and Mother),_

 _Whilst you know I don't usually write letters unless it is an emergency, or something of extreme importance of the house or myself, I have found a reason to write this letter immediately._

 _I have met the boy we know as Boy-Who-Lived, or Harry Potter. However, he has no idea of how the wizarding world actually works. He himself did not have a clue that he was the Lord of House Potter. I spent the entire day explaining politics and other uninteresting things to him whilst he recovered from a Dementor attack. He had no clue of his inheritance, or the fact that he had more money than just his trust account._

 _I have reason to believe that something suspicious is going on here at the school, and I hope you see reason to trust what I say. We must see to it that Harry's potential does not go to waste, and for this reason I believe we must adopt Harry James Potter as soon as humanly possibly, alongside Cedric Diggory._

 _The two boys show extreme talent and will one day turn out to be fine wizards, and if we adopt them, they will have a chance to finally grow up in a nurturing environment, for both Harry and Cedric have had that opportunity robbed of them by fate._

 _I hope you consider my opinion seriously, unlike the last time._

 _Arthur Noctis Urien, Lord of House Urien, Professor of Defence Against the Dark Arts._

Arthur folded the paper and made sure it was properly enclosed in the envelope before ensuring it had as many privacy and burning charms if someone else tried to take the letter that wasn't his mother or sister. He handed the letter to Pincher, who quickly flew out of the window, knowing exactly where to go.

"Get back here quickly, Pincher. I would hate to be on my own now that Onyx has left me too." 

_**X-X-X**_

 _ **Yeah, I know I kinda delayed myself with writing this, but that is what happens when Christmas finishes and exams and just high school drama is forced onto you the moment you have to actually work.**_

 _ **Anyway, I'll try to be more consistent, but the next two weeks will be littered with mock exams, so chapters may be few and very far between, but I'll be damned if I don't see this story finished. It just may take a while.**_

 _ **~The Real Italian Stallion~**_


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9: Friends

Daphne hadn't seen the quidditch match the day before, she was too busy studying alongside Tracey to bother watching it, not that she cared for the sport herself. It was a brutal game, at least from what she had heard. Gryffindor and Hufflepuff had been giving it their all, even in the torrential rain and the violent winds that had threatened to blow the players right off of their brooms. Not that it mattered, injuries and broken brooms were commonplace, and usually the players were back in the air after a few days in the hospital ward.

Then she had heard the Dementors of Azkaban had interrupted the game, and soon it was over. She then heard from some of her acquaintances in Hufflepuff that nobody could have told Cedric Diggory and Harry Potter that, as they were both too busy hunting for the snitch that was zooming through the skies, making both Cedric and Harry perform risky moves to attempt to catch the rapidly escaping golden ball.

Cedric had been the first victim, from what she had been told. A trio of Dementors had caught the older Hufflepuff student off-guard, sapping the happiness and replacing it with a terror that Daphne couldn't imagine and didn't want to imagine. Dumbledore had managed to save him first. Harry was the next player to be the victim of a Dementor, and to Daphne it seemed that the nightmarish creatures had decided to focus on Harry more than anyone else since they had arrived at Hogwarts. She had been unlucky enough to be the victim of one too, and it had shaken her up ever since she had been unlucky enough to have become its victim.

That was until Arthur had saved her.

She knew that the new Lord of Urien was reluctant in accepting his post, from what her mother and father had told her. She had been ill when it was the funeral for the old Knight of the Round Table, and if she wasn't, she would have had to be there to witness the cremation of the old lord. Apparently, Arthur had been seen conversing with Dumbledore for most of the night, constantly followed by the overgrown wolf that had now seemed to draw itself to the Boy-Who Lived. The new Lord of House Urien had taken the role of the new Defence Against the Dark Arts professor soon after, and had begun to assist his fellow peer, Professor Lupin, in the subject, not that either of them needed help, they were the only decent professors that any of them had for Defence Against the Dark Arts.

It also helped that Daphne knew one of them to a personal level at least, enough that she could probably consider Arthur Noctis Urien to be an elder brother of sorts.

Arthur had taken Daphne under his wing when the Ophelia and Cyrus Greengrass, her parents, had asked if Arthur had ever wanted to try and train an apprentice. Needless to say, Arthur was enthused and took Daphne as an apprentice. He taught her what he could, from Defence, Charms and Transfiguration to other subjects like Potions if his sister Guinevere was there, and to a certain extent, Ancient Runes and Arithmancy.

Daphne and Arthur had gotten along splendidly, and when Arthur had been made dual-professor of DADA, Daphne soon realised that he would most likely still be training her, just instead of other subjects, it would Defence. What had surprised her the most was that Arthur had taken to caring about his students, which was more than she could say for most of the other professors at Hogwarts.

Snape soon came to mind, and Daphne shivered as she thought about her head of house trying to be as caring as Arthur, and even then, Arthur didn't care about the house system at the school. She could tell as soon as she caught him looking after both Harry and Cedric, and to an extent, herself.

So, it wasn't surprising that most of the students, if they had problems, went to him for advice or help on something, he was probably the most approachable professor in the school.

Daphne couldn't help but think this as she attended training, there were very little people who she could trust completely. It went the same way with Arthur, he didn't trust easily. Daphne was one of the few he could trust, other than his childhood friends and family, and it was the same for Daphne, she could only trust her friends and family, and she considered Arthur family.

That was until they began to train.

Arthur had been trying to get her to focus on some other spells, stunners and other kinds of spells, like the Incarcerous and the Impedimenta, and to master them as soon as she could. It had been like that for a few weeks, and he was teaching both Daphne and Harry the same spells so they could master them at the same time, just to keep them both as experienced as the other. Occasionally, Professor Lupin would join in and teach them so other spells and hexes, some more dangerous and some less. It had been a lot more interesting when Potter was with them however, but he was still recovering from his attack from the Dementors during the qudditch game.

Daphne had been too engulfed in her own thoughts that she had forgotten she was meant to be dueling both Professor Lupin and Arthur at the same time, and her distraction had proved to be her undoing. Arthur had hit her with an Incarcerous and Lupin had managed to banish her to the floor, gaining the two professors the victory.

The two men began to untangle her from the ropes and assisted her in getting up. Clearly Arthur had noticed that she had been distracted as they had begun dueling. He holstered his wand and gave Daphne a pointed look as Remus had began to clean up the mess that had been made from the duel.

"What?"

"You're distracted, it was clear. Even before you stalled and stopped casting, you were casting slower than you usually do. What has gotten you distracted, Daphne?" Arthur asked.

Daphne sighed. "Why isn't Harry here? He's been out for a few weeks now. Why isn't he here training with me?"

"Because Miss Greengrass," Remus began. "Mr. Potter has just recently found out of his status as Lord of House Potter. When I say recently, Arthur tells me he only just found out the day he stopped showing up." 

Daphne was curious. "What do you mean, he only just found out? He should have found out as soon as he was capable of realising what being a Lord meant."

Arthur groaned, taking a seat at his desk. "Exactly, but nobody told him. As his parents were dead, they could not have told them. His guardian that began to look after him, clearly they did not tell him." 

Daphne had been rather confused by the whole subject. How could Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived, not know that he was meant to inherit the largest wealth ever conceived by wizarding standards, and become one of the most powerful members of the Wizengamot, not know that he was a Lord of Most Ancient and Most Noble house?

"Well, who is his magical guardian?" Daphne asked.

"We tried to find out." Remus began.

"But the records were sealed. We don't know who by, but I intend to take Harry to Gringotts this coming weekend to see who. Only Harry or his guardian have the power to unseal the records." Arthur had finished.

"Does Dumbledore know about your visit on the weekend?" Daphne asked.

"What Dumbledore doesn't know won't hurt him. Remus will be here to cover for me whilst I'm gone with Harry."

Remus gave a small harrumph whilst clearing the area, and once he had finished, he brushed his hands clean of dirt and stood over Arthur as he spoke to Daphne, occasionally interjecting when Arthur had forgotten to mention something. It truly became apparent to Daphne that Harry had been intentionally kept away from his inheritance and his lordship, so much so that he did not even have a clue that he was a lord at all.

"Where's Harry now?" Daphne asked.

"Probably somewhere around the castle. Most likely in the hall." Remus replied.

"You don't mind if I talk to him, do you? About this?"

"Not at all, Daphne. It would help if you tried to explain the situation to him, like we have. It would probably help if it was explained by a friendly face." Replied Arthur.

Soon, Daphne had brushed the dust off of her uniform, picked up her bag and rushed off to the great hall, somewhat eager to try and find Harry and find out more about his situation. She was the Heir Apparent to the House of Greengrass, and her father would be proud if she made an alliance with the new House of Potter.

 _ **X-X-X**_

Harry had taken a seat on the Hufflepuff table, as for the few weeks that he had been placed in the hospital ward, he had made conversation with Cedric Diggory, who after their time in the hospital, had become close friends. Cedric had gave Harry the confidence to talk to other people that weren't in Gryffindor, like some of the boys and girls in Hufflepuff. His closest friends from the house of badgers was Cedric and his new female friend, Susan Bones.

For the time that he had been hanging around with the badgers, he had learnt that most of them could have (and in some cases, should have) been placed in Gryffindor or Ravenclaw. Harry knew that Cedric was one of the intelligent students in the school, and could have been placed into Ravenclaw for how well some of his work was.

Susan, however, seemed to be properly placed. Apparently her auntie, Amelia Bones, was the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. She was an important from what Harry had managed to gather. He tried his best to make as many new friends as possible, but Susan had almost chained herself to Harry, and she would introduce him to some of the others, like Terry Boot and Justin Finch-Fletchley. Harry had also made good friends with Hannah Abbott, but that was mainly as a favour for Neville.

In fact, Neville had seemed to be more of a close friend than Hermione Ron. Harry had been ignored by the pair of them, as whenever either of them disagreed on something that would not even be considered miniscule, it became a heated argument within Gryffindor, occasionally even splitting the house apart, with some members taking Hermione's side, whilst others took Ron's. Harry had begun to consider him and Neville the neutral faction, with only a few older students joining them, mainly as they considered the arguments to be pointless and unneeded.

"So, what is the reason you're not sitting with the lions today, Harry?" Susan asked, as she switched her attention from her copy of _The Daily Prophet_ to Harry.

"Argument, with Ron and Hermione. Again." Harry mumbled.

"Pay up, Boot." Hannah ordered, catching a galleon that flew across the table.

Susan giggled as she read the newspaper. "My fellow badgers have started a pool, betting about what called you over to our noble house. Hannah keeps playing it safe."

"I do not!" Hannah screeched. "I'm just smart with my money, unlike Boot over there."

"I thought it would be different this time!" Boot shouted from across the table.

Harry had to laugh. He did not know why the other houses looked down upon the house of badgers. They were loyal to fault, apparently, and great friends to have as Harry had found out. Neville had occasionally visited the other table, although he blushed whenever Hannah Abbott tried to talk to him. Romance had became a rather touchy subject on the table, with everyone poking and prodding at others' romantic interests. Harry had heard that Justin Finch-Fletchley may or may not have had a crush on Marietta Edgecombe in Ravenclaw, but he soon flipped the topic to Hannah Abbott and how funny and adorable it was to see Neville blush whenever Hannah tried to talk to him.

"You know what they say about teenage arguments?" Hannah said to Harry and Susan.

"What?"

"It usually means they'll end up together." Hannah mentioned, writing down a few notes for Potions.

Harry tried to think of that image in his head, but soon stopped trying. He just could not see it, in his current life or the next life, there was nothing between them, was there? Just because they constantly argued? It seemed such an idiotic and miniscule thing to base a romantic relationship on, especially as considering arguments usually broke relationships instead of making them.

"Ron and Hermione?" Harry spoke. "I doubt it, it's just arguing between two individuals. Nothing will come of it, I bet you." 

"You think you can follow up on that bet, Potter?" Hannah challenged.

"I don't doubt it, Abbott. I bet you ten galleons Ron and Hermione won't end up together by the end of Fifth Year." 

"You're on, Potter."

The two teenagers shook hands and smirked to themselves as they settled back down and began regular conversation with the other Hufflepuffs. As Harry was getting in heated discussion about the quidditch with Justin and Terry, he had not realised that Professor Sprout was right behind him until he turned around to go back to the Gryffindor table with Neville.

"What are you doing talking to my loyal badgers, Mr. Potter." Sprout had asked, with a faux-angry tone in her voice.

"Oh, nothing Professor, I was just moving ba-" 

"Calm down, Harry. I'm not angry with you, I'm proud more than anything. It's been a while since I got to award points for friendship between houses. Twenty points to Gryffindor and Hufflepuff." Sprout said with a wonderful smile on her face.

Harry took a sigh of relief, and looked at his friends, who looked as if they were going to burst out laughing at Harry's nervousness. Justin and Terry seemed like they were about to choke on their own lungs whilst the girls were busy giggling, trying to hide their laughter from Harry.

"Traitors..." Harry mumbled with a twinge of sarcasm. It seemed like Justin and Terry were about to drop dead from laughter as they continued to howl as Harry made his way to sit next to Neville.

"You alright, Harry?" Neville asked.

"I feel betrayed, Neville. I thought the Hufflepuffs loved me!" Harry shouted loud enough for the badgers to here, causing them to laugh once more. "It's fine, Nev. Sprout sounded as if she were going to banish me away from her table, but it was just an excuse to give some more points." 

"Fair enough." Neville took a sip of pumpkin juice. "How are the badgers?"

"You can go over there yourself, Nev, you do know that? Just because every time Hannah tries to..."

"Harry, I will hex you if you say anything more about that one badger."

Harry stifled a laugh as he stole a spare copy of the _The Daily Prophet,_ and his laughing soon stopped as he read the headline. 'Sirius Black Spotted Outside Dufftown!' the paper read. Harry grimaced, wiping his eyes as he sighed stressfully. Neville patted Harry on the shoulder as the boy he could consider his best mate seemed overly stressed out by the news.

"C'mon, Harry. There's no way he can get inside the school. If the Dementors don't get him, surely the professors here will." Neville tried to reassure him.

Harry nodded as he stopped rubbing around his eyes. He sighed again before reading the article, and it seemed the more he read, the more reason he had to be cautious. Sirius Black was a mass murderer who had apparently mass-slaughtered thirteen muggles, alongside Peter Pettigrew, a fellow wizard. From what the Prophet said, Black was a loyal Death Eater, a follower of Lord Voldemort, and a strong follower in his beliefs. Harry wanted to string the bastard up from the Astronomy Tower then and there.

The man known as Sirius Black was pure evil.

"I know, Neville. It's just… He was one of _his men_. He should be dead, or worse. I know you feel the same way about a few others." 

Neville had been silenced. He had felt like that before, he felt how Harry had felt. He knew exactly what happened to his parents, and who did it. He had seen his parents in St. Mungos, and he hated the woman who had done this to his parents with every fibre of his being. His parents would never be able to recognise their own son due to what she had done to them. He knew Harry had it worse, he would never be able to see his parents again, because _He_ killed them.

As soon as Harry had finished reading the article, he threw the newspaper across the table and allowed himself to cool down, not saying a word. Harry had realised that Hermione and Ron were still arguing, and had not noticed what had been going on with him.

"Nev, you're my friend, right?" Harry asked, uncertainly.

Neville stared at Harry, his eyebrows furrowed. "Why do you ask, Harry?"

"Because I'm beginning to wonder if either of them were my friends." Harry managed to mutter.

Neville turned Harry towards Harry and frowned. "Harry, now that you're a Lord, I can't really pick a better time to tell you this, but so am I, sort of. I'm Heir Apparent, which means when I'm older, I'll become a Lord of House Longbottom. Now, House Potter is a larger house than House Longbottom. My house is a vassal house, and it is loyal to House Potter."

"Loyal, to me?" Harry asked.

"Yes. The first thing my gran said to me this year was that I needed to be prepared for when I take the Lordship. Since I'm your vassal, it means you're my lord, you are my superior, and yes, I am your friend. You're probably the best friend I've ever had, and to be honest, you're the only true friend I've ever had since I got here, aside from some of the Puffs. I'm glad to have you as my lord."

What Neville had said had struck Harry to the core. Neville was a good friend, a true friend. Harry must have underestimated Neville, as he never knew that he was a Lord either. Harry's eyes began to well up slightly, but he did not cry. He grabbed Neville and hugged him, as a friend, a proper friend.

"Thank you, Neville." 

As soon as Harry had let go of his friend. He heard a few coughs, and Harry could recognise exactly who was standing close by. He turned to see a certain pale, blonde haired and blue eyed witch sit next to him.

"Miss Greengrass. How lovely to see you." Harry began as he smirked. 

"Lord Potter. Professor Urien and Professor Lupin have told me of your… new occupation." Daphne had pretty much scowled. "We need to talk, right now." 

"We are talking right now." Harry replied.

"Don't get smart with me now, Potter. What's gone on has put Professor Urien in a bit of a state. He isn't angry, he's just rather exasperated by the injustice that's been done to you." Greengrass shot back.

"What does he want, Daphne?" Harry asked. "I thought there was nothing that could be done?"

Daphne grabbed him by the arm and dragged him out of the dinner hall until she reached the Defence classrooms. As soon as they walked in, Daphne closed the door and locked it, before leading Harry to Professor Lupin and Professor Urien. She had practically dragged him kicking and screaming up the stairs to the Defence office where the two professors stood ready.

"Professor Urien, what's going on?" Harry had asked.

Urien had actually growled, alongside Onyx who was lying next to him. "What has happened is a gross miscarriage of justice. If it can't be fixed today, I'll be damned sure to find out why, and you're going to help me."

Arthur and Remus had managed to create a small Floo system in the Defence office, and threw Harry and himself inside. Arthur grabbed a handful of Floo powder before throwing it down, announced where he was going.

"The Leaky Cauldron!"

 _ **X-X-X**_

 _ **It appears I have managed to crack out another chapter just before the week begins. I may try and work on a few others over the coming couple of weeks, but like I have stressed, exams are coming up and may delay the release of the chapters. Again, I apologise for this, but I will try and work around this.**_

 _ **Next time, we find out who has been keeping Harry's Lordship a secret!**_

 _ **~The One Italian Stallion~**_


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10: Answers

As soon as the green flames enveloped Arthur and Harry, they had shot out quickly, ending back up at The Leaky Cauldron. Arthur leapt out of the fireplace, a swirl of black capes, decorated with small gold floral patterns around the edges of the fabric. There were some ornate golden carvings that hung from the various straps of fabric that kept Arthur's billowing capes attached. Harry had noticed that one of his hands seemed to be covered in a type of metal-plating, and hidden under Arthur's wrist was his wand. The ebony wood had been carved ornately, with the outline of different animals able to be seen in the wood.

Arthur tilted his head, to see Harry lying uncomfortably on the floor of the inn. He gave him a hand and hauled the boy back up before dusting him off. Arthur ordered a quick shot of fire-whiskey, throwing down three galleons before downing the heated alcohol before almost dragging Harry into Diagon Alley.

"Sir, why are we doing this now?" Harry had asked.

It had sounded like Arthur was about to growl. "Because what has happened could be an attempt at line theft and if it is really bad, usurpation of the House of Potter. This matters, Harry. It should matter to you a lot more than me, but I care because of the impact this has."

Harry seemed to gall at the words. "But why do you care, sir? You're not part of my house."

Arthur sighed and stared at Harry as the brick wall slowly began to reveal the bustling Diagon Alley. "Because of all the houses, the House of Urien is one of the few Founding Houses that have made themselves subservient to another House."

Harry gasped. "You mean to say… You serve me? Like Neville?"

"Exactly. Gringotts should have the records to show you this and prove it. You'll be surprised Harry, your family is a very powerful and very old family."

Harry was quiet for the remainder of the time that Arthur and Harry tried to push through the busy crowds of Diagon Alley. It had been a little bit busier than usual, and there had been a moment where Arthur had almost lost Harry, only to realise that Harry was still standing next to him, still silenced until they reached the entrance to the bank.

"You've been here before, I presume?"

"Of course I have, sir. Have you?" Harry shot back, seeming to begin taking the situation seriously.

"More times than I can count. I don't have to tell you how to behave while in here, do I? Lest we want to try and have an early death." 

"We shouldn't be late, sir. Wouldn't want to insult the goblins." 

The two of them walked inside of the bank and were greeted with silence once the doors closed behind them. As they walked down the aisle to go to Harry's manager, they were given some growls and smirks from some of the goblin tellers, and some of them just scowled as the two of them walked through the bank.

As soon as they made it to the teller, the rough-looking goblin just scowled at Harry before placing his quill to the side. "How may I help you today, Mr. Potter?" The teller, named Riptooth, had said.

"I want to see who is considered my magical guardian, and why whoever it is has not told me of my inheritance." Harry responded, stone-faced and emotionless, like a true lord should be.

Riptooth seemed to recoil, but he had not moved at all. Instead, he remained as still as possible, though it seemed he wanted to explode with rage, or knew somebody who was going to. He growled once more. "Follow me, Mr. Potter. Who is this… follower of yours?"

"This is Lord Arthur Urien, let him pass. He is a friend of mine." Harry ordered, and the goblin harrumphed as he led them off to wherever they were going.

As Harry and Arthur followed Riptooth, Harry had begun to marvel at the solid gold statues of the various goblin kings that decorated the bank. Some of the paintings that also decorated the marble walls looked priceless. Arthur knew, goblin paintings were a very rare find, and even rarer so to purchase them for a reasonable price. As the pair were led deeper into Gringotts, they noticed a higher amount of security. Large, armoured goblins stood tall, with glaives and axes and hammers held tight in their grasps. They glared and glowered at the two wizards until Riptooth had stopped talking to another goblin.

"This is Sharpfang, he is the manager of inheritance in Gringotts." Riptooth stated, before walking off back to the main entrance.

Harry and Arthur had gone over to begin speaking to Sharpfang, and before they could start to speak, Sharpfang had already gotten the first word in. "Mr. Potter, such a pleasure to meet you finally. I've heard so much."

Arthur had raised an eyebrow at the goblin's friendly nature. "I take it you know why we are here?"

"Of course I do, Lord Urien. Mr. Potter here should have came to his inheritance…. Let me see here… on the first of September, 1991. For several reasons apparently, Mr. Potter was unable to make my acquaintance and gain this valuable information."

Harry seemed to almost deflate when Sharpfang stared at him when he revealed that Harry should have been in Gringotts longer than he actually was in his first year. Had Hagrid done it on purpose? Kept him away from receiving his inheritance? No, he couldn't have. Hagrid would never do such a thing to Harry, he could not do a thing like that to anyone, it just was not possible. Harry refused to believe it was Hagrid.

"Mr. Potter, would you like me to reveal who is your magical guardian?" Sharpfang asked.

"Yes, please."

Sharpfang handed Harry a piece of parchment, every bit of it covered in inky scrawl that detailed the Potter house details. He wanted to go away and cry when he just read his mother and father's names. He noticed that above them were his grandparents' names, and he wished they all could have lived long enough for Harry to know them. He sighed and then looked down to the bottom of the parchment, and then looked at who was his magical guardian.

There was a scribbled out name in the actual space where the name went, but above the scribbled out name, was the one that Harry did not expect.

"Albus Dumbledore..." 

"Your magical guardian is the only one who could have kept this from you. Other than your parents, Albus Dumbledore is the one who kept your inheritance from you." Sharpfang revealed.

Harry had been betrayed, betrayed by one of the very few people he thought he would be able to trust. Dumbledore had defeated a Dark Lord, of all the people Harry thought he would be able to trust, Dumbledore would be at least one of them! Why did he betray Harry?

"Sharpfang, did Harry's parents leave a will, anything that gives him full knowledge of his inheritance?" Arthur had asked, as Harry had gone eerily silent.

"I believe… ah, yes. The previous lord and lady left a will for the new Lord Potter. This should give you an idea of what is left behind for you, Lord Potter. I believe you know that Gringotts takes ten percent fee from all accounts so we have no problems there. The Potter accounts have been refilling due to the various investments your father made, so gold is placed inside the vaults, and we take our share out. Nevertheless, you are a very rich man, Lord Potter." Sharpfang said with a gruff laugh.

Sharpfang handed Harry the will of his parents, and Harry silently stared at it for a while. He did not read it aloud, but he did not read it silently either. He merely folded it and placed it delicately in his pocket. Arthur placed his hand Harry's shoulder, in a show of somewhat lordly manner of caring. Harry did give a small smile, and the turned to Sharpfang once more, keen on asking one more question.

"My magical guardian. There was a scribbled out name, who was there?" Harry had asked the goblin.

Sharpfang found the magical guardian form once more, and waved his hand over the parchment. His eyes widened and he reluctantly handed the form over to Harry and Arthur. Harry had read it and was silent, and when Arthur read it, he was gob-smacked.

"Sirius Black." Harry had murmured.

As soon as Harry had said the convict's name, he had ran out as fast as he could. Arthur said a quick thank you and ran off in pursuit of Harry. Harry was not crying, he was not angry, he was in shock. He ran down the hallways to the entrance, the goblin guards growling and glaring at the young boy as he ran through the bank. Arthur followed him, his black capes billowing and his golden carvings that kept his capes on him jingling against each other and patting gently on Arthur's chest as he ran after Harry.

As soon as Arthur had reached the entrance, he burst through the doors and found Harry just standing by the entrance to Gringotts. He hadn't said anything to Arthur, he was just staring at the parchment that had been fixed, now revealing who Harry's magical guardian would have been if it were not Dumbledore.

"Sir, how could it be him?" Harry asked.

"I don't know Harry, but it's best we go back to Hogwarts now. Soon somebody will no that we've been gone too long, longer than normal anyway. Come on."

Harry and Arthur made their way to the Leaky Cauldron. They entered the Floo and were taken away back to Hogwarts.

 _ **X-X-X**_

Harry had collapsed back on the wooden floor of the Defence office, with Professor Lupin sitting in his chair. Lupin had been reading a book before he threw it down on the desk and helped Harry up. Harry had not said anything, instead waiting for Arthur to explain the whole situation to Professor Lupin.

"Well, who is his guardian?" Lupin asked.

Arthur had gave a brooding sigh. "At first, we found out that his current guardian was Albus Dumbledore. He was the one who had halted the attempts to let Harry receive his inheritance. Before Albus however, was Sirius Black."

"Sirius Black?" Lupin asked again.

Arthur nodded, and took the bottle of fire-whiskey from the desk in the office and grabbed three glasses, filling each one to the brim. Remus and Arthur took one without hesitation, and Arthur soon offered the third one to Harry.

"Sir, I don't drink..." Harry had started.

"Nonsense. There have been Lords younger than you that have taken to drink. Just try it." Arthur said, handing him the glass.

Harry took the glass and quickly poured the liquid down his throat. Harry could feel the liquid warm his throat, and then give a slight burn on the back of his mouth. He began to cough, and the two adults with him had gave a small laugh and began to smile. Professor Lupin was the first to speak.

"Well you handled it better than Arthur did on his first time." Lupin smirked, and Arthur's glum facade turned into a grimace that was pointed in Lupin's direction.

Arthur downed the whiskey in one go and then glowered at Lupin. "You ever bring that up again, and I will ruin you, Lupin."

"Yes, yes, I'm sure you will." Lupin remarked, turning his back to Arthur and he began to focus on Harry.

Lupin gave a small smirk and placed his hand on Harry's shoulder before he began to speak. "Harry, myself and Arthur have been discussing what you asked at the start of your extended training. We've agreed to let you and Daphne learn about the Patronus charm."

Harry's face lit up slightly, and he gave a grin. It had been the happiest he had been since Sirius Black had been revealed as having been his original magical guardian. He gave a quick thank you to both of the professors and made his way back into the school, roaming around the grounds to wherever his friends were. Arthur and Remus immediately began planning what to do with the information that they had been given.

"Dumbledore hid Harry's inheritance then?" Remus asked, for certainty's sake.

"Indeed. Hid everything. Finances, properties, heirlooms, they're all in the vaults. Dumbledore made sure to make sure his hand in everything was well hidden. The only way anyone could have found out is if Dumbledore told anyone, or if Harry found out and told people. If Harry never knew, Dumbledore had complete access to the Potter vaults. Everything that has happened today is because of a mere coincidence." Arthur had replied.

Both men had sighed. "What do we tell Harry?" Arthur had asked.

"Tell Harry about what?" Remus had been confused, was there anything else he didn't know?

"About Padfoot." Arthur had reaffirmed. "We both know that what happened to Sirius was not in any way legal. The Aurors caught him and threw him into Azkaban. Even Lucius Malfoy was given a trial, and we all knew he was Death Eater. Besides, do you really think Padfoot could have betrayed Lily and James?" Arthur had pushed, pushed Remus hard for an answer.

"No..." Remus replied. "But who else could it be? Lily and James can't betray themselves. Most of the Order were either dead or had fled before _He_ killed them both. If Black is innocent, who gave away the secrets?"

Arthur groaned, in his great leap of logic, he had forgotten the one detail. "I don't know. Remus, it was so long ago..." 

"I know, Arthur. It's better we forget the whole situation and fight back against what we know is wrong. We know Dumbledore has done wrong, and we can fight him on that! We will deal with Padfoot whenever he shows his face. If we find Sirius, we find the truth. It's just a matter of time." Remus had reassured the younger man before him.

"Yes, we shall. We just need to wait."

"Exactly." 

Arthur had remained silent for a while, and soon he had left the defence classrooms to go to his own room. Onyx was prowling about the room, before finally leaping upon Arthur's bed and beginning to snore loudly. Pincher had began to caw at Arthur as soon as he had walked into his room, but Onyx had silenced the shrieking crow. Arthur soon found the piece of small parchment attacked to Pincher's leg, and untied it, throwing a seed at the crow as he read the letter.

 _Dear Brother,_

 _Myself and Mother have been talking, and whilst I do wonder if you love me as much as you used to (considering you want to adopt two children) I don't mind at all. I will just have to create a schedule where I can spend my time with my delightful brother._

 _Anyway, Mother has said yes to allowing you to adopt both Harry and Cedric. She had a sparkle in her eye when I mentioned the topic to you, and she smiled when she read your letter. Mother is going to the ministry tomorrow to go and begin the proceedings. Cedric will be the easiest to adopt, but I have no doubt that gaining custody of Harry Potter will be a lot harder._

 _In my opinion, I would ask Harry if he wants to be adopted first than just throw it upon him. The wizarding world barely ever sees him during the summer. Find out where he goes. Do it for Mother._

 _Your dear sister, Lunafreya._

Arthur smiled as he read the letter aloud, folding the parchment and placing it back down on the desk in his room. He sat in his chair and began to undo all of the capes that had now settled down around him, latching itself to the red leather of his chair and wooden outline of the chair that Arthur sat in. He sighed and began to feel his eyes close slightly, and soon Arthur had fell victim to the simple human excuse of sleep deprivation.

 _ **X-X-X**_

Harry had soon left the castle and gone outside. He knew that nobody would follow him and he knew that Ron and Hermione were probably still arguing.

He hated how his two first friends had devolved into what seemed to be mortal enemies. For the few months that the school had begun, they would take any excuse to try and fight with each other. One of the most banal and idiotic reasons was the fact that Ron thought Hermione had burnt his homework on purpose to make him look bad. Harry had to stifle a laugh when he heard Hermione shout back with 'your homework isn't even worth burning in the fireplace anyway, Ronald!'

Soon, Harry had made his way to the special spot where he considered his special place. Nobody ever went there except Harry, and it was a place where Harry could just simply think of things without having to worry about Draco or anyone of his ilk finding him and ruining his mood.

Not that his mood was great at all.

The moment Harry had found out about the betrayal from Dumbledore, who had kept his inheritance away from Harry for reasons unknown. Harry had felt even worse then ever. Betrayed by the one person who had brought joy to his life by introducing him to the wizarding world. It was even worse when Harry found out that his original guardian was the escaped convict Sirius Black.

It just could not have been possible.

Why would his parents ever have become friends with someone who would most likely become a Death Eater. Sirius Black had killed muggles, he had killed wizards, he was a loyal follower of Lord Voldemort himself! How could his mother and father allow him to be considered as somebody trustworthy enough to look after their only son?

From the spot where Harry was sat, he had a great view of the Black Lake. The small fish swum away from Harry as he neared the water. He could see the giant squid swimming around the lake, it's water-covered tentacles smashing into the water and then bursting out again. The squid seemed like it was having fun.

"Hello Harry." A voice said behind him.

Harry turned to see the pale, blonde haired and blue eyed girl behind him. Daphne Greengrass had followed him to his special place. If it were anyone else, Harry would have been furious. He wasn't though, he could not fault her for caring.

Or whatever Daphne called it, she seemed to be able to show emotion without actually showing it.

Harry sighed as Daphne sat down next to him. "You called me Harry." 

"Is that a problem?"

"No, just a surprise is all." Harry had replied.

Harry tried to smile as he looked at the Black Lake. Daphne had caught him at a rather bad time, probably one of the worse times he had since he had arrived at Hogwarts. Daphne seemed to sense this, and had begun to speak.

"How was the trip to Gringotts?" Daphne tried to pry an answer from Harry.

"Bad. Really bad. I found out who was keeping my inheritance away from me."

"Who was it? Let's get all the juicy info, Potter." Daphne had jumped on the reveal.

Harry sighed, and Daphne had noticed the sorrow and sadness in it. She gently brushed her hand over his shoulder and listened to him as he revealed the details of his visit to the goblin bank. The moment he had revealed that Dumbledore, she had scowled at nothing in particular.

"You realise that what he has done to you is considered illegal in this world? It could be considered line theft, and if it is really bad, usurpation of house? What Dumbledore has done is a huge crime!"

"I know, Daphne, I know. We have no proof that he was doing it for his own reasons. That's not all. Dumbledore wasn't my first magical guardian. There was someone else..."

"Who?" Daphne had asked.

"Can you promise me that you won't tell anyone else? Daphne, what I am about to tell you is extremely sensitive information." Harry said, completely turning to face Daphne.

"You can trust me Harry, I will even take a magical bond if it makes you feel any better?"

"No, I just need to make sure you won't tell."

Daphne smiled at him, and continued to keep her hand on Harry's shoulder. It felt odd, to have another female friend that was not Hermione. Hermione had instead focused on trying to argue with Ron all the time, and neither of them really cared of what Harry thought any more. If either of them caught Harry with the other, then they refused to talk to Harry for weeks until they forgot or Harry had reluctantly apologised.

Now Harry had made more friends, friends that did not argue with each other over such banal issues. He had friends like Neville, Susan, Hannah, the Patils. He even considered Daphne a friend to a point. She had seemed to care for him more than any other friends. It might have been the fact that she spent more time with him than most, with the training sessions helping build up some kind of camaraderie between the two.

"Go on then, who was the first guardian?" Daphne asked.

Harry gave a final sigh. "Sirius Black."

The pair of them were silent. Daphne had been as shocked as he had when she had found out. She tried to say something, but the words were caught in her throat. It seemed like whatever she had tried to say just could not reveal itself.

"I know. Horrifying." Harry stated.

Soon, Daphne had stopped trying to speak whatever words she wanted to say. Instead she simply slithered closer to Harry, sitting right next to him. Her silver-blonde hair was the only light that Harry could see in the darkness. Harry had completely forgotten how beautiful Daphne really was, how nearly all the boys in his year had wanted her on their arm, only to be given the harsh treatment by the Ice Queen.

Needless to say, people were a lot more careful around Daphne after the rumour of her freezing someone's nether-regions had gone around the school.

Harry could barely keep his eyes off Daphne as she had gotten closer to him. As well as her silky hair that he could just feel tickling his neck, he could see the bright blue eyes that he just could not stop getting lost in. Harry really could understand why people in his year considered Daphne one of the most beautiful girls in the year.

"No, it isn't." Daphne replied. "It could be a lot worse. It could be the Lestranges."

"True." Harry had to smirk and give a laugh. It really could have been worse.

The thought that Harry's parents had trusted Sirius Black enough to have him as Harry's magical guardian had played upon Harry's mind. Was Sirius Black really a good friend of House Potter? If he was, Harry wanted to find out.

As Harry continued to stare at Daphne, she had began to speak. "Harry, you're staring." 

"I know..." Harry replied, almost in a dream-like state.

Daphne then proceeded to stare at Harry, in a response akin to Harry's own. She then began to copy Harry's own movements, so when his head twisted, Daphne's did as well. When Harry blinked, Daphne blinked. Daphne could clearly tell that Harry was getting annoyed by the impersonation, but he was not saying or doing anything to show his annoyance. Instead, he seemed to stop getting annoyed and take advantage of his situation for a little moment. Harry moved his head closer to Daphne, and she had decided to copy his movement. She knew what he was going to try, and Harry could tell from the look on her face that she knew what he was thinking. She definitely looked unimpressed from what Harry could tell.

"Potter, if you even try and plant your lips near my-"

Harry already knew what he was going to do. He knew he would like to keep his private parts, so instead of kissing Daphne square on the lips. He darted to the side and gave her a small kiss on the cheek. Harry had noticed that Daphne had a small blush on her cheeks before she gave what Harry would have called a cute growl. Harry wanted to skip all the way to the Gryffindor dorms, but he couldn't as Daphne had already caught up to him and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt.

"If you're gonna do something that stupid, at least do it right." Daphne had brought her lips to Harry's own.

As soon as it had began, it was over. Harry was in shock for the third time in the day. Daphne had already made her way to the Slytherin common rooms, and from what Harry's somewhat dazed eyesight could see, Daphne may or may not have been swaying her hips in a certain manner to make Harry go crazy. Once he could no longer see Daphne, he turned around, began to hum and skip all the way back to the Gryffindor common rooms.

 _ **X-X-X**_

 _ **I'm Back! Sort of…**_

 _ **One more week of exams and then I will have some free time to start updating again. If you very astute people have noticed, I can only update on the weekends for the last week and the coming week but once exams are finished, I'll be able to start updating on a more regular basis.**_

 _ **~The Real Italian Stallion~**_


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11: Confusion

As soon as Harry had felt Daphne's lips leave his own, there was a massive amount of confusion that rushed straight to his brain. Harry may have found Daphne attractive, almost all of the boys in his year did. She had turned every other boy that had asked her out in the year down, and Harry had gone with the assumption that if he asked too, he would be given the exact same answer.

So when she had left his immediate view, Harry almost could not walk, although he did not show it. He felt his whole body shaking, his hands quivered and his legs were almost about to fall off. Was it really all real? Was it all a dream? He would definitely be lying if he said he had never really thought about Daphne in that way, he had. The silky smooth hair, the beautiful blue eyes, the curves that made her look almost impeccably beautiful, it was as if there was never a single flaw of Daphne Greengrass. She was cold to most, ignoring them at best and cursing their nether-regions at worst.

As he skipped back, he had looked back at the painting that used to house the Fat Lady. Apparently, Sirius Black had been seen prowling throughout Hogwarts and specifically around the Gryffindor common rooms. At first, Harry had been terrified, almost failing to sleep for three nights straight. He had his wand right next to him in bed, ready to be fired in case Sirius Black waltzed in and tried to do whatever he would do.

Soon the nights when quicker and quicker, and Harry had soon let his guard down. However, when he made his way to the Gryffindor common rooms after being kissed by Daphne, his guard was almost down completely. He was caught completely off guard when he nonchalantly walked into another one of Ron and Hermione's arguments.

"Well, where is he then? Where's Scabbers?!" Ron yelled.

"I don't know, Ron! It's not my job to look after your stupid rat! It's your fault he's gone!" Hermione quickly replied.

"It was that bloody cat, I bet! You and your bloody Crookshanks, you let Crookshanks eat him didn't you!"

Harry had soon been thrown off by the argument. The fact that it was so insignificant as Ron losing Scabbers again for the fifth time that year, had made it that much more annoying. Ron just could not take the responsibility for one second, and Harry knew that if he ended up losing Hedwig then he would have to take responsibility, who else would there be to blame? Ron? Hermione? Neville? None of them would face the blame except Harry.

The only difference between Harry and Ron was that Harry knew went to back down and admit his faults.

Occasionally.

"Harry, tell Ronald here that it is not my fault that Scabbers has disappeared!"

"Harry mate, tell Hermione that she needs to control that bloody beast of hers!"

As Harry had expected, the conversation had now turned to him as it always had done since the year had started. They both wanted Harry to take their side, and if he picked one over the other, then the other would moan and sulk and complain to the rest of Gryffindor.

Harry was done, he'd had enough.

"No, I won't. Hermione, I won't tell Ron to look after his bloody rat. Ron, I won't tell 'Mione that she needs to control Crookshanks. Ever since this year has started, you've done nothing but constantly tear at each others' throats. I've had enough of it! I've had enough of the arguing! Both of you need to grow up and get a grip! Ron, you need to look after your pets. 'Mione, you need to keep Crookshanks on a leash or something."

"Harry, I thought you were my mate! I thought you'd take my side in this!" Ron exclaimed.

"Harry, I thought you'd be more sensible than this!" Hermione squealed.

"Stop! This is what else annoys me! You don't care about what I have to say! I can barely talk to either of you without angering the other one! Ron, if I talk to Hermione, stop having a hissy fit about it!'Mione, if I talk to Ron about the weather or something, don't squeal at me like you're my bloody mother! Don't you realise what you've done? Don't you ever realise where I go now during lunch and dinner? I have to go to the Hufflepuff table, because at least there people like Susan and Hannah actually treat me like a friend! God forbid, even Neville joined me! You know what? Neville isn't even that bad, he's not a bad wizard, but you still take the bloody mick out of him! You, most of the people in Gryffindor say the Slytherins are the worst, constantly insulting and denigrating others for their lack of skill, but Ron, you're a hypocrite and it's really bloody ironic! You constantly mock the Hufflepuffs for being a house of nobodies, and you mock Neville for being a rubbish wizard! Have you looked in the mirror recently, because I don't think you have! You are possibly as bad as Malfoy, and that takes some doing, Ron! That takes some fucking doing!"

There was an eerie silence, as the entire Gryffindor common room turned to look at Harry after his outburst. Harry could see on the edge of his vision that Dean and Seamus had their jaws on the floor, their game of chess dropped to watch the argument. Angelina, Katie and Alicia were meant to be doing some kind of arduous homework, but it had been abandoned in favour of Ron and Harry's argument. Hermione had simply seemed to gawp at the pair, almost as if she were about to faint then and there.

"That's it. I've got nothing else to say to you any more. I've said my piece. Goodnight, Ron. Goodnight Hermione." Harry simply finished, and he just managed to carry himself to his bed.

 _ **X-X-X**_

Daphne was unable to even consider the consequences of her actions. What she had done was stupid, idiotic, a hallmark in unsurpassed mindless, unintelligent, insane stupidity. What Harry had done was just a simple joke, it had to be. All Harry had done was kiss her on the cheek, that was all! Why did she go and kiss him on the lips? Why had she gone and done something so amazingly stupid just so she could prove a point? Why did she even kiss him in the first place?

"Stupid. Stupid. Stupid." Daphne repeated to herself, as if it were a punishment for her idiocy.

Daphne had quickly made her way to the dungeon. She had to be there quickly, before anyone noticed that she was gone. She knew that Draco would be onto her almost immediately, it was just impossible to try and stop it. She knew that he would confront her, mention that Lucius Malfoy was still trying his hardest to make a marriage contract between his pathetic son and her. She had hope that her father would never allow that to happen.

She shuddered at the thought as she entered the Slytherin common room, she shuddered at the mere thought of having to marry a Malfoy. She wanted to be sick just looking at the white weasel that was Draco Malfoy. No, she did not simply dislike or detest Draco Malfoy, she loathed the creature. She abhorred Draco Malfoy.

The times when Arthur and his older sister Guinevere had tutored her in their free time. The times whenever they spoke of the Malfoys, it was with a clear hatred of them. It would always be worse whenever Arthur had argued with his father about working with them. It seemed that Arthur would always go to his sister whenever something like that happened. One time when she was meant to be learning potions from Guinevere, she had heard Arthur mutter about Lucius Malfoy also being 'Death Eater scum'. From that moment on, Daphne had been very wary around either Draco or Lucius Malfoy.

The moment she wandered into the main room of the dorms, she could see Pansy Parkinson pawing over the 'traumatised' Draco Malfoy for the hundredth bloody time. It pained Daphne whenever she heard Draco's dramatic retelling of his near-injury due to Professor Hagrid's hippogriff. The word around the common room was that Professor Urien had manhandled Draco, the story being twisted so they made mention of Arthur pushing Draco closer to the great beast. That very same day, when Daphne had been studying her arithmancy when she heard Draco march in, muttering about 'stupid Professor Urien' and he had began whispering 'I'll make sure Father handles him like he should be'.

Daphne had to laugh at Draco's anger. Lucius Malfoy thought that he could throw around money and problems just seemed to disappear, he thought that because he had the most money he could become a major player. It seemed that the House of Malfoy took the silence and observations of House Urien as a message to become the man of the house. Well the house would be the Wizengamot. Edric Regis Urien, Arthur's father, may not have bothered himself with the petty affairs of the smaller houses.

It was needless to say that Edric Regis Urien was not looked kindly upon by the Wizengamot. He never showed up, too busy revelling in his immortality to care about the problems of others. From what her father had said to Daphne, the other members of the Wizengamot would be a lot more agreeable with whoever else took over the seat when Lord Urien passed, if he ever was going to pass.

"Oh yes, I wrote Father that very day. He said he was going to make sure the beast would be put down and those oafs Hagrid and Urien would be given the sack. It's just like I said, Hogwarts has been going to the dogs, like I've been saying all this time!"

Daphne had to chuckle. If anything had never gone Draco's way, then it would be up to dear old Daddy Malfoy to fix it. From the time when Lucius Malfoy was one of the school governors, Daphne could remember in second year that he seemed to have a permanent scowl on his face as he marched through the halls of the school.

Daphne could hear Blaise Zabini and Theo Nott beginning to giggle at Malfoy's proclamation, before they ended up receiving pointed looks from both Draco and Pansy. Pansy crawled away from the blonde ponce, allowing Draco to stand up and march towards to his two fellow Slytherins. The two seemed to cuddle up to the green leather in the chairs and tried to stifle their laughter as Draco marched over to them, confident in his ability to stop them from making fun of someone such as himself.

"What do you two think you're doing?" Malfoy asked them, staring intently as he waited for an answer.

"Sitting here, doing homework. What does it look like, Malfoy?" Nott tried to reply.

"Shut up, Nott. Let Zabini and me talk now, let the adults talk." Malfoy interrupted, ejecting Nott from the conversation.

From what Daphne had been observing since she had been made part of Slytherin, there had always been a territorial contest between Blaise and Draco. The weasel had been determined to become the so-called 'leader' of the house of Slytherin, but the Italian wizard had taken it upon himself to undermine Malfoy every chance he got, damn the consequences.

"If you wanted to chat, you merely need to ask, dear Draco." Blaise had begun.

"Don't 'dear' me, Blaise. You know exactly what you've been doing, Blaise. You've been mocking me behind my back. How subtle of you, but I caught you! Apologise to me, right now!" Draco ordered, smiling as if he were the cat that caught the canary.

"No."

"Excuse me?"

"No, I won't apologise, Draco. I won't apologise for laughing at you. I will apologise to your dear mother though, I thought your father would create a better child than you. Then again, he is a Death Eater." Blaise had began to mention nonchalantly.

"How dare you insult my father! You have the nerve to even speak his name! You'll pay for that!" Draco went to draw his wand.

"Keep your wand in your cloak before you hurt yourself, Draco." Daphne began. "The last time you got cocky, that hippogriff nearly killed you. If I were you, I'd sit down and let Parkinson fawn over you like she's your mother."

Draco seemed to scowl back at Blaise, and then grimaced before growling at Daphne. Draco marched over to Daphne, and Blaise smirked as he realised that Draco had found another target. Theo seemed to shy away from Daphne, as if he were going to try and merge with rich green leather in his seat. Daphne got on well enough with the two other boys, the only two boys that didn't seem to be obsessed with following Draco around all day, and they seemed to be friendly with Tracey as well, so Daphne didn't have a problem with them.

"And where have you been, Greengrass? Frolicking with a mudblood in a broom cupboard? Wouldn't surprise me, considering your father seems hell-bent on not allowing me to take you as my bride. No, you seem to be content on allowing some inferior mudblood or half-blood have his way with you, don't you? I bet you fondling the older ones, don't you? Well, let me tell you that you'll never find a better specimen that will make you feel loved better th- OW! AH, THAT'S COLD!"

Daphne had been mindlessly ignoring Malfoy's rants and promises to her every since first year. He had been so insufferable even in first year it gave Daphne a headache just listening to him speak. The more he didn't realise that he had been fantasising about doing the various salacious and indecent things that Daphne dared not even think about when combined with the thought of Draco Malfoy. Although Draco may have thought that Pansy was completely enthralled by him, that was far from the truth. Pansy constantly complained to some of the other girls in the house, whining about how Draco never paid any attention to her or never pleased how she thought he would.

Well, if he didn't know then, he definitely knew afterwards. The growing block of ice that had begun to encase his 'tools' began to slow, leaving Malfoy a mewling mess on the cold stone floor of the dungeons. Blaise and Theo had began to burst out into laughter, and some of the younger years had begun to laugh as well, trying to contain their laughs as Malfoy growled in pain on the floor. Tracey and Milicent Bulstrode had heard the high-pitched wailing coming from Malfoy, before bursting out into tears as they watched Malfoy try and cover his crotch as he seemed to be trying to hide from the universe, only to realise that he was still on the cold stone, weeping in pain as the ice on his genitals began to harden.

 _ **X-X-X**_

Arthur had been bored.

Extremely bored, there was barely anything happening now.

It had been the end of the month, the time of the full moon. Remus had not taken his potion for the night, and he had asked Arthur to join him on an adventure. The pair of teachers had quickly evacuated from the castle to keep the lives of the children safe. Either of them would be distraught if they hurt one of the kids, and they would be even worse if it was Harry that was hurt.

Throughout the month, both Remus and Arthur could not even even fathom what had been allowed to happen to Sirius Black. The two were talking about that time where Sirius had been caught 'red-handed'. The finger of Peter Pettigrew and the mutilated corpses of thirteen muggles lying all around him whilst he laughed. The Aurors had simply stunned the hysterical Black before throwing him into Azkaban, letting him rot in the ward, most likely next to the other Death Eaters like the Lestranges and Barty Crouch. Remus and Arthur had no idea as to how to react when they found out that Sirius Black was meant to be the original magical guardian of Harry. Were they meant to be scared or happy?

But it didn't matter. At least not for that night.

As soon as the two teachers made it out of the school, they had made their way to the Whomping Willow. The old tree seemed to be sleeping, but not for long. As soon as the moon fully shone upon Remus, he seemed to want to crawl into himself. His nails began to blacken and grow out of his hands, forming the claws of the Werewolf Lupin. The old suit jackets began to rip and tear, the wool and fabric breaking at the seams as Remus' shoulders began to hunch forward. His nose and face began to push forward, and his ears began to grow out and fur began to prick up from every follicle of skin that was visible. Soon, he was naked and instead of the normal Remus Lupin, it was replaced by the form of the fully transformed Werewolf Lupin.

The werewolf turned to see Arthur standing just a few steps away from it. The werewolf seemed to be challenging Arthur, as if taunting him and showing it's strength before howling loudly in the night sky, the moon casting an ominous shadow of the werewolf in front of him. As soon as the wolf began to march in front of him, Arthur could feel the similar feeling that he used to feel all those years ago. The feelings of when he could roam the fields as a grizzly bear.

Arthur closed his eyes, taking a deep breath as soon as he heard the wolf walk right in front of him. The smell of the lupine creature in front of him had started the process, and Arthur could then begin to picture what he wanted. The titanic grizzly bear that wandered around the Forbidden Forest alongside the werewolf in front of him came to mind. He soon felt the process begin to change his body. He felt his arms and legs become wider and larger. He felt fur begin to erupt in his skin, and soon he was crawling on the sweet grass, in front of him standing the werewolf that then ran off into the forest. Soon, the grizzly bear gave a mighty roar and leapt forward, following the werewolf into the forest.

 _ **X-X-X**_

 _ **Exams are over!**_

 _ **As you may have guessed already, exams have finally finished. I may or may not have done completely crap, but whatever, this isn't where I talk about exam results, this is where we all admire and criticise each other's work. So, you can all expect much more content coming now, as I have so much more free time now!**_

 _ **SHAMELESS PLUG: Check out some of the other stories I have on my profile if you ever feel like reading something else. Some of my other stories may not be up your street, but some might be, we'll never know if we don't see, will we?**_

 _ **Make sure to review, I'd love to see more and more criticism coming from the audience that read my content. I want to continue improving and bettering my work so you continue reading it boys and girls.**_

 _ **~The Real Italian Stallion~**_


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12: Fixing a Friendship

Harry had not been able to sleep for the previous night. A large amount of howling and roaring had came from the Forbidden Forest, and it seemed very unusual for the large wood as it was the norm for it to be silent almost every night of the year. Instead, it had been the noisiest night Harry could remember since he had arrived at Hogwarts.

The Gryffindor common room was silent as usual, still suffering from the aftershocks of the arguments between Ron and Hermione, and the massive outburst from Harry the night before. Seamus and Dean and Ron seemed to stay far away from Harry, keen on not incurring his wrath. Hermione had stuck to reading in silence, also keen on not making Harry create another outburst.

Neville was doing just fine, and he managed to get some of the others from Gryffindor to talk to him, even if they were still worried about him shouting again. It was such a rare occurrence to get Harry to shout, so much so that it was considered a once-in-a-lifetime moment to see happen. Neville had simply acted as if it had never happened, never bringing it up in conversation with Harry for the sake of ruining his newly-found friendship. Although they may have been friends since first year, it was like Harry never really knew Neville until his third year, and Harry could only lay the blame at his own doorstep. Harry could only blame it on only socialising with Ron and Hermione for most of his first two years at Hogwarts, and not befriending anyone else until recently.

Harry got up from his bed and went for a quick shower, before trying to tame the mess that was his hair and brush his teeth. He soon stopped trying to clean the bird's nest that was his hair and left it, putting on a grey jumper, some jeans and a small coat over them. Harry realised it was a Saturday, and gathered his invisibility cloak.

The one thing he regretted about leaving the Dursleys in the way he did, was the fact that he never got his Hogsmeade letter signed by Vernon. He had to have had it signed for him to be allowed to visit Hogsmeade, but it wasn't signed at all. Vernon was the only one who could have really signed, maybe Dumbledore could have signed it?

No, there was no way Dumbledore would allow it to happen. Harry did not even know that he could still trust Dumbledore. After that revelation at Gringotts, his trust in the old headmaster had severely depleted, and Harry felt that the only one he could really trust in the school was either Daphne or Professor Urien. Harry was still having trouble trying to realise that Professor Urien was actually a vassal, a man who was subservient to him. Arthur had an air about him that made him seem larger than life, although he never showed it, he seemed pretty normal, if a little eccentric. For the small amount of time that Harry had managed to talk to Hermione before an argument, he learnt that Professor Urien was the lord of a very powerful family.

Apparently, House Urien was one of the few founding houses that was not Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Slytherin or Ravenclaw. After a lesson on the Knights of the Round Table, Harry knew that Sir Urien was the former lord of House Urien, before he passed away. When asked by Harry how she knew all of it, she merely replied that somebody had managed to sneak into the seat of House Urien during the wake and cremation of the 'immortal' Sir Urien.

Every detail had been written down in _The Daily Prophet_ , and it included some libellous claims that House Urien had been using blood magic to keep themselves young. One of the more nonsensical stories that had been authored was that Lunafreya Ignis Urien, Arthur's sister, was a rare breed of vampire known as a Bruxae. Another was that Arthur himself was a back-stabbing, secretive member of the family, who had killed his father so he could gain his lordship and inheritance.

Harry could never imagine anything like that of Arthur, or his family, despite the little that he knew of them. Harry didn't like that part of him, the part of him that could not see anything but the good in people. He thought he could trust Dumbledore because he told him the truth, or at least what Harry considered 'the truth'. They took advantage of him, because he was a child, because he was naive, because he was stupid.

Harry didn't know what to do. Who was to blame? Him? Dumbledore? Voldemort? The only one Harry could blame without feeling bad was Voldemort. If Voldemort had never killed his parents, he would never have been in the situation in the first place. If Voldemort had never killed his mum and dad, Harry would never have suffered the years and years of abuse that his relatives inflicted on him because of something that wasn't under his control. If Voldemort didn't exist, James and Lily Potter would still be alive!

Harry threw the thoughts away, he didn't want to go to Hogsmeade under a dark cloud and end up ruining everyone's day. No, he could not do that to everyone, he was not a selfish person. He threw his invisibility cloak over himself and began to travel through the interlocking stairs and halls of Hogwarts until he got to the exit. He could see Professor McGonagall and Professor Urien watching as the students that were allowed to go to Hogsmeade. He tried to stay far away from the two teachers, so they could not hear him try and escape to Hogsmeade for the day.

Well, it seemed to be a foolproof plan. Apparently, the Weasley Twins seemed enjoying destroying foolproof plans.

The two older redheads threw their arms under Harry, creating a loop of arms. They dragged him further and further away from the gates to Hogsmeade. Harry had tried to stay quiet, whispering and then shouting as quietly as he could so he did not draw the teachers' attentions. Harry knew that if the teachers caught him sneaking off to Hogsmeade, he'd be in for it badly. Even Harry knew that he definitely did not need that in his life at all. He had so much drama in his life that he didn't need the entire staff of Hogwarts dictating that he just could not seem to follow the rules again. It was a habit that Harry just could not break, but he always knew that Snape enjoyed every chance he took to wail on Harry and his family.

Harry soon failed to realise that Professor Urien was smiling indiscriminately, and the professor could hear the small whispers of Harry Potter as he was dragged back into the school by the Weasley Twins. He quickly excused himself and followed the redheads inside the school, tailing them to the secluded location where they had taken Harry.

"What are you doing? I was trying to get to Hogsmeade!" Harry almost screeched.

Arthur could hear the two Weasleys laughing loudly, and Arthur knew that Harry had been caught easily by the twins. He could tell Harry was rather angry with the two, as he knew how much Harry had wanted to go to the small village just a small distance away from the old castle. Arthur could just see the edge of Harry's frame try and get past the older boys, only to be dragged back by them before Arthur finally met the trio.

"Sir, can you tell these idiots to let me go?" Harry asked, almost as if he were begging.

Arthur made a face that looked as if he were thinking hard for an answer. "Now Harry, these good boys took you back here for a good reason. One which they informed me of before they did it. I believe you two have something to give the young Lord Potter?" 

The two twins sighed, and Fred (or was it George) shoved his hand down his pockets and pulled out an old looking piece of parchment. The two smiled at each other, high-fiving each other before handing the parchment to Harry who simply stared at the parchment with interest. Harry unfolded the parchment, and his eyes widened when the parchment suddenly began to cover itself in ink and cover the pages, only it seemed to be unintelligible scrawling instead of actual writing.

Harry continued to examine the piece of parchment with interest, as he turned it over and examined every square inch of the parchment. The twins continued to smile as Arthur quietly observed.

"What's this rubbish?" Harry glared at the two.

"'What's this rubbish?' he says." Said George.

"That there is the secret to our success." Fred replies.

"And we've decided that your needs are bigger than ours. Fred will you do me the honours?" George asked.

Fred took his wand out and gently placed it onto the parchment in Harry's hands. "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good!"

The illegible scrawling soon turned into actual writing, and the ink on the page dragged itself to begin to form actual writing on the parchment. Harry's eyes widened as he began to read the writing.

"Messrs. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs are proud to present.. the Marauder's Map?"

"We owe them so much." The twins said in sync.

Harry examined the map even more carefully, as he unfolded the map and began to look out what the ink had created. He recognised what could only be towers and rooms, and then he noticed the names of people that could only have been in Hogwarts at the time.

"Wait a minute, this is Hogwarts!"

The twins' grins widened even further when Harry finally realised what the parchment was. Arthur seemed to smirk slightly as well, and Harry soon noticed the smirk on the professor's face.

"Did you know what this was, sir?" Harry asked.

"Maybe. I went looking for it when I saw Filch's impressive list of banned object. I saw the map and thought that you could use it. Imagine my surprise when I found out it's been taken. So, I'm thinking for most of the day, who could make the most of the map aside from Harry? The twins would, because how else do they get around the castle so quickly and how do they get away from their pranks without getting caught? It would have to be the map."

George seemed to be the first to be able to come up with a response. "And me and my dear brother thought that nobody would find out..." 

Fred seemed to be of the same mind, still trying to comprehend how one of the Hogwarts teachers managed to find out about the theft of the Marauder's Map. His mouth had moved, but no sound came out, still trying to form the words to express his shock.

"Sir, I think you broke the twins." Harry said with a smirk.

"Logical deduction is the best of things." Arthur smiled. "Come on, Harry. I'll show you the best way to get to Hogsmeade."

Just as Harry and Arthur began to walk off away from the twins, they grabbed him by the shoulders and dragged him back.

"We almost forgot." George began.

"We forgot to tell you how to hide the map." Fred finished.

George placed his wand on the map. "All you have to do is place your wand on the map and say 'mischief managed' otherwise absolutely anybody can read it." 

The ink on the map then returned to illegible scrawl once more, and soon the twins had rushed off, and were gone. It had left Harry and Arthur on their own, before they soon went off to find the best way to get to Hogsmeade without getting spotted. They soon found a hidden exit in one of the dungeons of the castle. Harry and Arthur removed a loose stone and Harry began to climb down and made his way under the castle and to Hogsmeade.

 _ **X-X-X**_

Hogsmeade looked like a little village from the Christmas cards that Harry could remember. Thatched little cottages were spread out all around the area and were all covered in layers and layers of fresh snow. Some of the houses were decorated with holly wreathes on the doors and strings of enchanted candles were hanging from the trees. It looked like the ideal village where one would want to stay, but Harry could not imagine himself living there.

As Harry managed to sneak out of Honeydukes, he could see the crowds and crowds of people walking through the layers of snow that covered the ground. There was a happiness that Harry could sense in the air, the cheers and the laughter that came from the adults that lived in Hogsmeade and the students that came to celebrate the weekend that had managed to drag itself to them.

For Harry, he had been thankful that he had the invisibility cloak and the map, otherwise he would not have even been able to get to Hogsmeade at all. He could not imagine just staying inside the school for the rest of the year, otherwise he would go stir-crazy. He could see Neville and Hannah getting along rather well as they left Honeydukes just behind Harry, completely unaware of Harry's presence due to the invisibility cloak hiding his small frame. He noticed Cedric and some of the older Hufflepuffs joking around the village and talking with some of the other house members. Harry wished he could see Daphne, so that he could ask her what she was thinking when she kissed him when he returned from Gringotts after realising he had been manipulated by the one person he thought he could trust with anything.

Harry quickly threw off the cloak and tossed it over his shoulder, revealing himself but he was not noticed by the population of Hogsmeade. He quickly went off in the direction of Daphne so he could try and talk to her. Maybe he could talk to her about what had happened the night before, about the kiss. He could ask if it meant anything, and then maybe he could just put it out of his mind, at least for a while until he gained the confidence to ask her the big question that all boys were afraid to ask girls that they liked. Would he even ask her that anyway? Did he even seem able to gain the confidence to even think about asking the question itself?

Harry could only think about it, he didn't know himself.

Then Harry began to think. What if Daphne didn't like Harry in that way? What if she had kissed him just to make a point, Harry could remember what she had said when she had kissed him. When Daphne said 'if you're going to do something that stupid, at least do it right.' did she really mean it? Harry knew it was going to be a stupid thing to do, but Harry was stupid, he was a thirteen year old boy, and all thirteen year old boys were stupid. Perhaps he was just overreacting to something that would never happen again. Harry would not have been surprised if Daphne never wanted to talk to him ever again, aside from the times when they would have to practice. Harry could see Daphne and Tracey enter Scrivenshaft's Quill Shop, browsing over a few items before going to the counter. Harry stopped a few steps away from the entrance, just looking at the two girls, one of which he had no problem with saying that he had a massive crush on. The silky silver-blonde hair, the bright sapphire blue eyes and the almost impeccable curves that she had could have drove every boy in the magical school wild. She radiated perfection and beauty, but repulsed people with her icy exterior.

How had Harry fallen for someone like her?

"I don't have a chance, do I?" Harry asked to nobody in particular.

Harry turned away from the shop and quickly threw the invisibility cloak on top of himself. He wandered the town for hours, going nowhere and muttering to himself for no reason other to try and keep himself from just wandering into the Forbidden Forest and never coming back to the school.

Little did Harry know that he was leaving a noticeable pattern of tracks around the town, a track that Susan Bones and Cedric Diggory found after the same steps were being made with nobody there to make them. As they saw the invisible Harry making his way round one more time, the two Hufflepuffs ambushed the young Gryffindor and managed to take him around a group of houses where they unravelled the cloak and made Harry visible once more.

"Guys! Stop please!" Harry managed to yell before being muffled.

"Stop fighting, Harry!" Cedric said before the younger boy stopped trying to wriggle away.

Harry looked at both Cedric and Susan, with a very miffed expression on his face. He looked at them as if he were going to hex them as soon as he could for trying to almost what could have been considered kidnapping if it was anyone else doing it. He tried to go away from the two but Susan quickly stopped him dead in his tracks.

"How do you feel about making Malfoy look like an arse?"

 _ **X-X-X**_

Ron had ran off, afraid and worried about nobody but himself. Crabbe and Goyle had ran off to chase him down and torment him. Truth be told, Ron and Hermione had never been close friends. They were the exact opposite of each other, and if it weren't for Harry then the two would not be friends at all. She could only thank him for helping Harry save her from the troll that had wandered into the girls' toilets in their first year. If it weren't for those two, Hermione would have been seriously injured, or even killed.

Apparently, for all of Ron's talk about being a brave Gryffindor, he slithered away just like any good Slytherin would. As soon as Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle had began to threaten the pair, the 'brave; Ron Weasley had run off terrified of the larger boys that had followed him in hot pursuit, leaving her with the blonde weasel Malfoy.

"And he's in Gryffindor..." Malfoy sighed.

"I wonder that myself sometimes." Hermione managed to mutter.

Draco looked at Hermione and almost smiled at her, as if he were trying to genuinely smile at her. Hermione almost felt disgusted by it, she had been bullied and insulted by Draco Malfoy ever since she had started her education at Hogwarts, she hated Draco Malfoy with a passion, and it really required someone to be horrible for Hermione to hate them.

"Seems you're all alone now, mudblood." 

Hermione's eyes fell down to the snow covered forest floor. She had been called the name more times than she could count. It was a slur for wizards that were not even a half-blood. They were born of parents without a magical bone in their body.

"I'll be more of a wizard than you'll ever be, Malfoy, and I'm not even a boy!" 

Malfoy growled, and began to draw his wand. Just as he was about to cast some horrible spell, a snowball hit him square in the chest. It pushed Malfoy backwards a bit, before two more hit him in the stomach and head, flooring him for a moment. Malfoy began to shout at the cold air, ordering whoever threw the snowballs to come out and face him like a proper wizard. Another snowball later and he was back on the floor. He was soon picked up from the floor and pushed away from Hermione, but from where she was standing there was nothing pushing Draco away. There was only one person she knew who could have been doing it.

Harry.

Soon, two Hufflepuffs came out from some bushes and began to pelt the Slytherin with more snowballs until Draco had ran far away. The invisibility cloak was removed and Harry Potter was visible to Hermione once more. Hermione knew she should not have done it, and instead been a little more apologetic to him, for how she had treated Harry since the year had started, completely ignoring him in favour of arguing with Ron. She had known it would have been a stupid choice.

She ran to her friend, wrapping her hands around him and holding him tight in a hug that was forcing the oxygen from Harry's very lungs. Harry was surprised, especially when the bushy haired girl started apologising at the speed of a rapid-fire machine gun.

"Harry, I cannot apologise enough. I'm so sorry for ignoring you, for treating you like you never existed. I'm so so sorry for doing it, please please forgive me!"

Harry had began struggling to breathe, to the amusement of Cedric and Susan. Hermione seemed dead set on not letting him go, until Harry started to cough and sputter as a way to get out of the bear hug.

"It's alright, Hermione. I forgive you, I shouldn't have shouted at you and Ron like I did. Truth is I should have not expected you to focus on me all the time. We were both in the wrong, and I apologise." 

Harry and Hermione hugged once more before there was an awkward silence.

"Hey, is that the Shrieking Shack?" Cedric asked.

 _ **X-X-X**_

 _ **Sorry for the time that I haven't been updating, life is a bitch and For Honor has kind have been taking a lot of my time. I can promise to try and update more frequently in the future, but for now, please read, favourite, follow and review!  
**_

 _ **~The Real Italian Stallion~**_


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13: The Story of Sirius Black

Harry was a lot more happy when Hermione had realised her mistake, and had apologised. Harry knew he was not completely faultless, he should not have expected both Ron and Hermione to pay attention to him all the time. That was his fault, and he had apologised for his fault. He did not know if Ron would ever forgive him, but if he didn't, then Harry had lost his first friend. It didn't seem fair, but then again, life never was. If life was fair, Harry would not be living with Vernon and Petunia Dursley, if life was fair, his mum and dad would still be alive.

Cedric and Susan managed to become fast friends with the bushy-haired bookworm, and it seemed that Hermione was rather happy with making more friends that weren't in the house of Gryffindor. It seemed that she had very few friends in Gryffindor, occasionally making conversation with Padma and Lavender, but they were more friendly acquaintances than actual friends. She was a lot more talkative and friendly with the two Hufflepuffs, and it definitely showed.

"You're going to give the Marauder's Map to Professor McGonagall, aren't you Harry?" Hermione said, as if she were being the responsible parent to Harry once more.

Cedric tried to stifle a laugh, but failed. "Yeah, just like he's going to give in the invisibility cloak? I'd kill for one of them."

Hermione smiled and shook her head. She definitely knew that Harry would never give in either of them. They were ideal things to have for someone like him, for someone who went out seeking adventure and danger every year. She had tried to stay away from the drama that Harry seemed to cause (and sometimes seek out) but every time he managed to drag her in with him. She was never happy with it (especially in her second year) but it was definitely fun, not even Hermione could deny that.

The three had not realised fast enough that Harry had disappeared under the invisibility cloak again. Cedric had been the first to notice that Professor McGonagall had shown up at Hogsmeade, with the Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge alongside her. Hermione could immediately understand why Harry had hid, lest he risk being sent back to the school with a months worth of detention.

Hagrid had tried to be helpful, but had ended up making something worse. He had tried to open the door to Fudge's carriage, but instead ended up pulling the door off completely. He quickly apologised and marched off, gently placing the door near the carriage before leaving. The four were watching what Fudge and McGonagall were doing with interest. They had gone over to Madame Rosmerta, who had managed to mutter the words 'Sirius Black' a little too loudly.

Thanks to the invisibility cloak, Harry had not alerted the other three to his movement, and he quickly followed the trio into the Three Broomsticks. He managed to slip into the pub just before the door closed, with Cedric, Susan and Hermione made to stay outside. Harry wished they could have heard it, but it was personal to him. Sirius Black was meant to be his guardian, and he needed to know what they were saying.

Harry soon managed to sneak upstairs, to Rosmerta's room. Fudge, McGonagall and Rosmerta were discussing something about the Dementors, and how they kept coming into the pub and terrorising the guests every night. Fudge had made himself at home, as he went over to the bottle of firewhiskey and began to pour himself a glass.

"Well, years ago, when the Potters realised they were marked for death. Very few actually knew where they were. The one who did, was Sirius Black, and he told You-Know-Who!" McGonagall revealed.

"Not only did he reveal the whereabouts of the Potters to You-Know-Who but he also killed one of their friends, Peter Pettigrew!" Fudge exclaimed, to Rosmerta's confusion.

"Who?" 

"Peter Pettigrew, the little lump of a boy, always following James Potter around like a little lost pup. Always trailing after Sirius and James?"

"Oh, I remember him, the pair never left his sight." Rosmerta replied. "What about Pettigrew?" 

"Mr. Pettigrew tried to warn the Potters but Sirius Black got to him first. Black killed him!" McGonagall revealed again, leaving Rosmerta in silence.

As McGonagall and Rosmerta merely stared at each other in the silence, Cornelius Fudge continued to help himself to the firewhiskey. As the Minister of Magic poured himself another glass, he began to stare emptily at where Harry was standing, not realising that Harry was situated just in front of him, hidden underneath the invisibility cloak. He stared for a while before placing the bottle down and taking his glass.

"He didn't just kill Pettigrew, he destroyed him!" Fudge interrupted. "When they found Black, he was laughing like a madman, and all that was left of Pettigrew was his finger! Nothing else!"

Harry was still trying to comprehend half of the information that he was receiving. Sirius Black was a friend of his parents, and he had told Voldemort where they were hiding, as well as killing one of their allies. Harry was becoming more and more thankful that Sirius Black had been in Azkaban for all those years, he didn't want to be anywhere near them.

"Sirius Black may not have been the finger that killed the Potters but he's the reason they're dead!" McGonagall spoke, her eyes seeming to fall with every word spoke, as if she regretted simply mention the names.

"And now he's come back, to finish the job that You-Know-Who did not."

"What's worse, is that Sirius Black was and is to this day remains..." McGonagall took a deep breathe. "Harry Potter's godfather!"

Harry's world seemed to be spinning as soon as he heard that. Sirius Black was Harry's godfather as well as his guardian, it was why his name had been scribbled out on the form at Gringotts. How was Sirius Black his godfather, his mum and dad must have known that somebody, anybody, could have been better than Sirius Black!

Harry wanted to run off, he wanted to run far away and cry. He could not help but feel absolutely destroyed by the revelation. Sirius held such a close connection to the Potters, to Harry himself, he did not know how he could have given away the Potters. From what the three adults in front of him were saying, James Potter and Sirius Black were meant to be inseparable, meant to be the best of friends.

How could Sirius Black have given away the Potters? Did he just walk up to Voldemort and tell him?

Harry wanted answers, and he wanted them immediately.

Harry began to fight with the invisibility cloak, tearing it off quickly. As soon as it was completely off, he had revealed himself to Fudge, McGonagall, and Rosmerta. The three adults were completely put off by Harry's sudden appearance in front of them. Rosmerta and McGonagall hung their heads in shame, whilst Fudge was standing stock still, as if he were trying to become a statue like the ones that Harry saw that hung around Hogwarts.

"Harry?" McGonagall was the first to speak.

"Why didn't you tell me? Why didn't any of you tell me? Was it not important enough?" Harry asked repeatedly.

"We thought..." Fudge began.

"You thought what? That keeping this hidden from me would make everything better? That keeping this hidden would keep me safe? Why not just tell me the truth? You think that not telling me who gave away my parents to Voldemort would help me?"

"Because we thought that it would put you in danger!" Fudge responded irately. "We didn't want the Boy-Who-Lived being killed on some kind of revenge mission!" 

"Is that all you and the ministry think about? The Boy-Who-Lived? What about me? What about Harry Potter?"

"We're sorry, Harry..." McGonagall began.

"You can tell me later, Professor. Right now, I want the truth, tell me everything about Sirius Black. No lies, no half-truths, everything." Harry demanded calmly.

There was an eerie silence from the three adults, and McGonagall and Rosmerta seemed to be extremely ashamed of the fact that they had kept everything from Harry instead of telling him. Harry knew that McGonagall knew better than to try and hide the truth from Harry, because from the previous two years, he always managed to find it out.

"We cannot tell you, Harry. What you've already heard cannot be spoken to anyone else." Fudge said, staring at Harry intently. "We have to obliviate you."

McGonagall immediately stood up and began to guard Harry, her wand drawn towards the Minister of Magic. She scowled and looked as if she were about to start casting every spell that she knew. As soon as the Minister drew his wand, it looked as if she were going to hex or stun him right away.

"You will not touch Harry! We owe it to him to tell him the truth!" McGonagall screeched.

Fudge refused to back down. "You draw your wand, on a Minister of Magic?"

"You'd obliviate a child for something he deserves to know?" 

Fudge was silent for a moment. "If it is necessary, yes, I would."

It seemed like Fudge was about to stun McGonagall, but before he could. Rosmerta drew her own wand and petrified the minister.

"Go on, you two. I'll deal with him." Rosmerta said.

McGonagall practically dragged Harry back to Hogwarts, and most of the people that were in Hogsmeade found it absolutely hilarious that Harry had been caught sneaking around Hogsmeade when he was not even allowed to be there. As far as Harry knew, he wasn't in trouble for that, and it was most likely that he was going to be told the complete truth by McGonagall.

Harry was simply expecting to be thrown into a transfiguration class and told the truth, but he was not expecting to be taken to the headmaster's office. The gargoyles moved aside quickly as the stern Scotswoman said the password and threw Harry up the stairs as she marched behind him. Dumbledore seemed to be busy signing paperwork, until he was interrupted by Harry and McGonagall.

"Harry, my boy." He said with a smile. "Minerva, why is he here?"

"Other than managing to sneak into Hogsmeade and eavesdrop on an extremely private conversation, he needs to be told the truth about Sirius Black. I would also implore you to keep the Minister of Magic far away from Potter, lest he risk being transfigured into a rat."

"Harry, what did you hear about Sirius Black that requires me to tell you truth?" Dumbledore asked.

"Other than realising that he is meant to be my godfather, guardian and a friend to my parents. I want to know everything that happened between Sirius Black and my parents. I want to know it now." 

Dumbledore sighed, and allowed the two in front of him to take seat. Dumbledore seemed to lose all the colour of his face, and quickly placed a lemon drop in his mouth before he began to speak about the whole situation.

"Your parents, and Sirius Black were close friends. James and Sirius had been friends ever since their first year at Hogwarts." Dumbledore began. "Sirius, Remus and Pettigrew became friends with Lily in the seventh year, when your parents started going out. As soon as the darker families started attacking the muggles and muggleborns, I… I founded the Order of the Phoenix to fight back. Your parents and their friends all joined, including Sirius Black." 

"Are you saying Sirius Black was a spy for Lord Voldemort?" Harry asked.

"I have many reasons to doubt it. For one, Sirius could not lie to save his life. Secondly, James and Sirius were so close I have no reason to believe that Sirius was ever on the side of the Death Eaters."

"Death Eaters?"

"Voldemort's followers, fanatics who believe that pure-bloods are the only true wizards and witches. I was there when they went into hiding, I cast the Fidelius Charm myself. At first, I cast it upon Sirius, but he thought it would be too obvious considering James and Sirius' open relationship. He asked me to change it to Pettigrew, so he would be the secret-keeper. After that, we lost Peter Pettigrew for a few months until Sirius managed to track him down."

"Do you know why Peter Pettigrew went missing?" Harry asked once more.

"No, sadly I do not. Sirius had it in his head that Peter had betrayed the Order. I could hardly blame him, it seemed like somebody had been giving up the locations of every single order member there was. We had no idea who, but it became so bad that we had to disband the Order in order to keep us all safe. When Sirius found Peter, he was so enraged he tried to kill Peter, and in doing so, killed the only one who could have proven his innocence. All that was left of Pettigrew was..." 

"...his finger." Harry finished. "Professor, do you believe that Sirius was on Voldemort's side?" 

"No, I do not. As soon as I realised that Sirius had been taken away, I knew there was nothing I could do. Minister Fudge had already started a smear campaign against him, I tried and tried to get Sirius Black a trial, but it was no hope. They blocked me at every turn. Sirius Black was thrown into Azkaban and we didn't even know if he was guilty or not." 

There was another silence, and there were no words that could have been said. Every one had possibly been fed a lie, to make them feel safe. Another Death Eater in Azkaban, all is right with the world, now go on and don't ask any questions. Harry couldn't have believed what he had heard. Sirius Black might have been innocent, and could have ended up looking after him if the Ministry of Magic had never deemed him guilty before being proven innocent.

Harry stood up, and began to leave the room, but was stopped by Dumbledore. "If you need to talk to me about anything, Harry, don't be afraid to tell me. I have no reason to lie to you." 

Harry merely nodded and continued to walk away and soon left to go back to the common room, and he had one thought on his mind.

 _I have to find Sirius Black…_

 _ **X-X-X**_

 _ **Don't forget to follow, favourite and review!**_

 _ **~The Real Italian Stallion~**_


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14: Uninvited Guest

As soon as Arthur and Remus had heard the news that had spread around the school, they had already stormed off to find Dumbledore. He already had a bone to pick with the older man for all of the trouble caused with the Potter accounts, let alone the controversy surrounding the Sirius Black incident. If what he had heard was true, then Sirius Black had never been guilty of anything, and it was insinuated that the true betrayer of the Order of the Phoenix was Peter Pettigrew. Arthur never really knew Pettigrew from the few years that Arthur had been friends with The Marauders. He was mostly talking to Remus, and occasionally talking to James and Sirius, almost never speaking to Pettigrew. The four seemed to enjoy the company of the younger boy that was Arthur, and he became a semi-marauder, as they usually called him.

Arthur had friends when he was going through his own magical education. Not many, but he had them. He didn't really talk to anyone else aside from them or the Marauders, and that was if they weren't busy pranking or exacting their own justice on the bullies of Hogwarts.

It seemed all too weird to Arthur, knowing that maybe one day the true Marauders would be reformed again (bar two) and he never went a day when he didn't wish that James and Lily Potter were still alive to see their own extremely talented son.

His childhood moments in Hogwarts were his fondest memories, especially meeting Lily Potter for the first time. Arthur had what most considered to be a very childish crush on the older girl. He had soon accepted it in private that he never had a chance with her, especially when he was told by Sirius and Remus that the almost legendary womaniser James Potter was pining for her affection.

It had been disappointing at first, realising that his wishes would never be granted, but it was soon forgotten when watching James' humorous attempts at attempting to capture Lily's affections. Arthur soon found himself torn away by some of the girls that were his age, and although they weren't Lily, he got over it.

The same could not have been said for Serverus Snape.

Every single person in Hogwarts at the time knew how much Lily Evans meant to the cranky Slytherin. They were considered best friends, always spending time with each other in and out of class. Snape was usually a victim of the Marauder's bullying, although Arthur never really could comprehend why they bullied Serverus. The man's only issue was that he acted a lot more high and mighty when the Marauders were not around, and it seemed to get on a lot of peoples' nerves. Soon it was up to the Marauders to put his ego back in check, and to Arthur's dismay, it didn't really stop.

Arthur had wished that he had tried to make himself scarce at those moments, to try and not take prt but just merely observe and see what happened. He told always told himself 'if anything bad happens, I'll stop it.' but when it came to actually 'stopping it', Arthur was not the one to do it.

It seemed that the mere mention of Sirius Black being innocent and possibly exonerated of his crimes began to bring up the old memories, and not all of them were good. Arthur did not know whether Remus was feeling the same way, as the older man left much to the imagination, saying things in the most cryptic and mysterious ways, almost always leaving the truth hidden, waiting to be discovered on one certain word.

As soon as Arthur and Remus got to the headmaster's office, it was extremely unmissable to hear the calm muffled voice of Dumbledore and the almost furious voice of Minister Fudge shouting at the older and wiser man.

Sometimes Arthur did wonder what it was like to deal with people like Fudge almost constantly like Dumbledore, and was thankful that he only had to handle him a few times a year.

Remus uttered the password and the gargoyles moved aside, allowing the two DADA professors entry to the headmaster's quarters. It seemed that their entrance had caused a silence from both men, and both Dumbledore and Fudge were patiently waiting for Remus and Arthur to join the conversation.

"Ah, Lord Urien, Professor. Maybe you'll talk some sense into this deluded old man!" Fudge almost yelled.

"There really is no need to compliment me, Cornelius." Dumbledore shot back.

Arthur smiled at the old man's sarcasm, he had to give him credit. "What seems to be the problem, Minister?" 

"Headmaster Dumbledore refuses to punish Harry Potter for eavesdropping on a delicate conversation, of which the details have thankfully been kept private." 

"You mean they've been told to the entire student body?" Remus asked. "Because myself and Professor Urien here have been hearing rumours all day that Sirius Black may be innocent." 

"Sirius Black is most certainly not innocent!"

"Where's your evidence that he is?" Arthur replied.

"Who else could have killed Peter Pettigrew? Who else could have given away the Potters secret location?!"

"Pettigrew! How can you not see that there is a simple step in logic, which unsurprisingly, you have failed to come to, Cornelius." Arthur sniped.

"How dare you! I'm the Minister of Magic! I could have-" 

"Have me deported back to Wales, and then I'll just move to America and wherever else I deem it necessary where my skills are needed. I've heard it all before, Fudge."

"And I'm not even going to mention the obvious idiocy that is making you the professor to teach Defence Against Dark Arts when it is clear your speciality is caring for magical creatures!"

Arthur groaned loudly, completely interrupting Fudge's planned assault on Dumbledore's staffing habits. He had heard it all before, why was he a Dark Arts teacher when he enjoyed looking after magical creatures more? Other than the fact that Hagrid was already made the professor for Care of Magical Creatures, merely taming beasts was Arthur's hobby not his job. He had lost count of the times he had told people that he didn't look after animals and raise them for a living, he lived off his business that he co-owned with his late father and occasionally solved 'trouble' for other wizarding government bodies.

He just didn't need everybody knowing it.

"Minister, you already know my occupation. Caring for creatures is my hobby, not my job." Arthur responded, disinterested.

Remus and Dumbledore seemed to fade into the background, just watching the stand-off featuring the British Minister of Magic and one of the most, if not the most powerful magical lord in Britain. Needless to say, the pair found the stand-off rather interesting.

"Then why do you spend so little time, doing your job, Lord Urien?" Fudge asked, with a smile on his face.

"Because not every country has a possible Dark Lord in the making, Minister. Rising Dark Lords are on the decline, mainly because most countries are extremely capable of implementing preventative measures to stop them from being created in the first place! Because not all countries require some rare individual with my skill set! Because not all countries need me to fix their problems for them! But if only a certain pig-headed Minister could do what the rest of his kind were doing and follow their bloody example and not act like a fucking idiot, it would make my job a lot fucking easier!"

There was an impenetrable silence in the office. Nobody would ever even think about speaking to the Minister of Magic like Arthur had done. It had been ages since someone had even spoke like that to any government official. Yet, Arthur Noctis Urien had the power and the courage (although some would call it arrogance) to do so.

"So, you're currently unemployed at the moment?" Fudge asked.

"You're an idiot." 

"How dare you! Do you have any respect for your betters?"

"You're meant to be my better? Merlin help me if you are. I consider my mother my better. I consider my sisters my betters. I consider Albus Dumbledore as my better. Do you know what? I think, that with a few years of hard work, dedication and practice, I think Harry Potter could be my better, but you Fudge? You'll never be my better. I never voted for you on the Wizengamot, my father definitely didn't. I won't, I will never support you, Fudge."

Again, there was an eerie silence in the headmaster's office. It seemed like what had turned out to be a simple argument would soon transform into a full blown fight, and Dumbledore definitely didn't need a fight between a Minister and a Lord to happen in his school. All four men were silent for a while until Dumbledore broke the silence.

"Gentlemen, I believe we are getting off topic..." Dumbledore started, but was quickly interrupted.

"No, I'm not done yet. Apologies, Headmaster but I have very big bone to pick with the Minister again. Send the Dementors back to Azkaban, right now, and replace them with Aurors or so help me god I will kick you out of office myself." Arthur began again.

"You don't have the power to kick me out of office, you think too highly of yourself, Lord Urien. I suggest you take a different tact with me if you want to go that route." Cornelius fired back. 

"I don't need power to kick you out, Minister. Just one well placed scandal and I could bring down the entire establishment and make Magical Britain look like the cesspit it actually is."

"Pfff, scandal! And what scandal have you got proof of that could 'destroy' Magical Britain like you say?" Cornelius asked, expecting silence but not being given it.

"Maybe I should go to The Prophet and tell them about how you engaged in bribes with multiple Death Eater families? Should I tell them how Lucius Malfoy bribed you to allow many of the arrests from the first British Wizarding War to walk free because he threw a big sack of gold at you? I wonder what would happen after that?"

Fudge scoffed, rather loudly as well. He seemed to laugh at the accusation of being bribed by the Malfoys. He then began to laugh even louder than when he scoffed, seemingly ignoring the accusation completely.

"And how do you aim to prove this? How do you, 'Lord Urien' plan to show any evidence that I have taken any bribes from Lord Malfoy, or any other Dark families? Please, tell me your grand plan!"

"Are you really that unaware?" Arthur asked.

"Unaware of what?"

"Who else bribes you to keep some semblance of law that people like Malfoy don't completely control the government? Who pays you to give most of the wizarding populace some semblance of what we should call 'human rights'? Who pays you to keep us away from the reaches of people like Lucius Malfoy, from people like Voldemort?"

"Voldemort is dead! Voldemort has been killed and there will not be another Dark Lord in Britain! I refuse to be insulted in this school, Dumbledore, and I refuse to be insulted by a young lord who is clearly to big for his own boots. Perhaps you should hand your lordship to your mother, she'll handle your family a lot better than you are." Cornelius shot back.

There was another silence before Dumbledore took control of the conversation again. "Gentlemen we are getting off topic, we should be talking about Sirius Black and Harry Potter…." 

"Sirius Black is a criminal!"

"Sirius Black might be innocent, Fudge. How do you not understand that?" Remus asked.

"Because there is no solid proof! If there is no proof, then Sirius Black will remain as is! A criminal!" Fudge yelled.

Cornelius Fudge had had enough, he prepared to storm out before stopping, turning around and announcing his intentions.

"Tell Madame Rosmerta to prepare her case, I'm sure she'll need it at the Ministry." 

_She won't need to prepare, not when I throw some gold in your face, you pompous shit._ Arthur thought.

As soon as Cornelius Fudge finished his sentence, another figure appeared from behind him. With the long blonde hair and extremely familiar facial features, Arthur could immediately tell that Lucius Malfoy had arrived.

"Minister Fudge, I believe it won't be necessary for you to deal with Madame Rosmerta. I already dealt with her myself." Lucius said, staring at Arthur as he spoke.

"Greetings Headmaster, professors. Lord Urien, my son informs me that due to negative circumstances, you have ceased business with myself and my family. I hope that you would reconsider this..." 

"Mr. Malfoy, like I have said before, the hippogriff didn't hurt your son and it is completely unneeded to have the beast executed. I implore you to reconsider your decision." Dumbledore said.

As soon as the elder headmaster spoke about the hippogriff, Arthur knew he was talking about Buckbeak. He should have known that Malfoy would have sent a letter to his father and begged him to fix the situation. What Arthur didn't know was that Lucius Malfoy wanted the hippogriff executed. Although Malfoy may no longer have been on the school council, he was still a concerned parent that 'worried' for the safety of his son.

"The punishment has been agreed upon, Headmaster. The beast shall be executed today, and I will not be changing my decision." Lucius snarled.

Arthur felt like throwing Lucius Malfoy out the window. "You're going to have a hippogriff killed because it could have hurt your son?"

"It did hurt my son, and it could have harmed any of the other children. I'm doing this school a favour by doing this." 

"I was there and I made sure your son was not harmed by Buckbeak, the hippogriff. Whatever your son has said is a lie, as he never laid a hand on the hippogriff, and the hippogriff never laid a claw on Draco." Arthur spat.

"Are you implying that my son is a liar?" Lucius fired back.

"Not implying, telling. Your son is a liar, and you should be able to tell that he is lying." 

"It doesn't matter if my son is a liar, using a hippogriff for a first lesson of Care of Magical Creatures is extremely irresponsible. I will be lodging a complaint against the school as well as the professor of the subject itself. You should have know better than to hire someone so irresponsible, Headmaster." 

"Now now, Professor Hagrid is not irresponsible. He told every student in his class not to insult the hippogriff. The only person to blame here is your son, Mr. Malfoy." Dumbledore interrupted.

"That is the exact opposite of what I heard." Said Lucius.

Arthur smiled. "It's a shame that the exact opposite is the truth." 

Lucius Malfoy scowled, and not just at Arthur, but at everyone, including Dumbledore and Fudge. He readjusted the grip he had on his cane before fixing his hair and turning around. Fudge seemed to curl away from the lord of House Malfoy.

"Now then, Minister. I believe it is time for the execution. Shall we?"

The group began to move out of the room, all except Dumbledore and Arthur. As soon as Arthur began to move, Dumbledore stopped him. The old man got up from his chair and stepped in front of him.

"I trust that you will not allow this miscarriage of justice to go through?" Albus asked Arthur.

"You know I wouldn't." 

"I will try Fudge, Malfoy and the executioner, but it won't work for long. I need you to get the hippogriff and hide him somewhere in the forest, where he'll be free to roam. That way, no innocent lives are lost." 

_**X-X-X**_

It caused Arthur no shortage of fury. The fact that it was clearly open that Fudge and Malfoy were in bed together, only in a metaphorical sense and not a physical one (god forbid if it was both). So as they got to Hagrid's hut, the old headmaster began to point absent-mindedly at the hills and fields of the Scottish Highlands that surrounded the castle.

Hagrid could be seen in his hut, talking to three people before it seemed like he was trying to get them out before the Minister arrived. Arthur was hiding behind a wall of pumpkins, waiting until they went in so he could start moving Buckbeak into the forest. As soon as they entered the hut, Arthur moved away from the pumpkins and bowed toward Buckbeak, who was lying down in the middle of the pumpkin patch, like a statue that didn't move.

Buckbeak soon bowed toward Arthur and allowed him to move closer. He gave the hippogriff a small stroke on his feathers before focusing on the chain. A simple cutting charm would not have worked, so Arthur tried something a little different.

" **Lume Lamina..."** Arthur whispered, and his wand sprouted a fiery blade that extended from the tip.

Arthur sliced off the chain and began to move the hippogriff, using the small pheasants and ferrets as an incentive to keep moving. Soon, Arthur and Buckbeak were deep into the forest, almost a few short minutes away from coming out near the Whomping Willow, where he would release the hippogriff to be free.

What Arthur didn't see was the trio of students following him.

 _ **X-X-X**_

 _ **Don't forget to follow, favourite and review!**_

 _ **~The Real Italian Stallion~**_


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15: The Guardian

Arthur had not thought he would agree with Dumbledore at all throughout the year, he was shrewd. He kept people in the dark on the most important of things, and keeping people in the dark about things sometimes got them killed. It was one of the few things that Arthur was in disagreement with Dumbledore over, and it was one of the reasons Arthur's father hated the man who had defeated the Dark Lord Grindelwald. Other than that, Arthur personally had no problem with the old warlock. He admired his desire for peace, but he knew it was a pointless one. Peace was always temporary.

Try as Arthur usually did, peace would always turn into war. Britain was not the only place to have been the battleground of Dark Lords. Arthur's job was not technically an Auror, more like a mercenary, although he didn't like the title, he felt it too dirty or common. His job was more like a hunter, bringing down people and groups that had ties to Dark Lords or groups that were going to overthrow magical governments.

Although he didn't really tell anyone. What with being busy with the companies and businesses, animals and the matter of family, it had been a long time since Arthur had been overseas to stop anything like a Dark Lord.

It was a dangerous job, but somebody had to do it.

So as Arthur found himself feeding Buckbeak and leading him through the forest, he began to contemplate either staying in Hogwarts and teaching, or continuing his old job. Although the year had mostly been plagued by Dementors and the rumours of Sirius Black, he had found the school oddly welcoming. He had managed to get on with the professors, like McGonagall and Flitwick, but some he found he couldn't stand to be around, like Serverus Snape.

He did miss Reddington Manor however, he missed the family that he had left behind in Hertfordshire. He missed having the comfort that being with his mother and Lunafreya had. His sister had always looked after him, and his mother had always comforted him during the hard times. Sometimes Arthur wished he could have known his other brothers and sister. He dreamed that sometimes Guinevere would come back and they would all be a family again, reunited and happy that everybody was together again.

That was not to be. Guinevere had gone off somewhere to become a world-renowned potion master and Arthur had not heard from her since she had left. The only person to blame was his father, he had tried to force Guinevere to marry Regulus Arcturus Black, but Guinevere was a fiery girl, free-spirited and wild. Edric Urien soon banished her from the family and she was never heard from again, although Arthur always had a sneaking suspicion that either his mother Celestine or his sister Lunafreya always tried to keep in contact.

 _Looks like I have to fix another one of my father's mistakes…_ Arthur mused.

Arthur made a mental note to remember to try and bring Guinevere Vakarius Urien back into the House of Urien. It had been an injustice that needed to be addressed immediately and Arthur would not hesitate to fix it immediately as soon as he got back home.

Buckbeak seemed to halt a few times as they made their way through the Forbidden Forest, and Arthur couldn't blame the hippogriff. The forest had many creatures that Arthur didn't really need to have an encounter with. Acromantulas were simply pests that Arthur swiped away, but when he heard the surge of stomps and shouts he knew there was a herd of Centaurs around that he really didn't want to encounter, not when he was trying to save a wild hippogriff.

 _ **X-X-X**_

Harry was furious.

No, Harry was more than furious, he was enraged.

He happened to be having a decent morning but it all went down after the afternoon. As he was having some lunch by the Black Lake, he happened to be found by Draco and his goons, Crabbe and Goyle. Harry felt a large urge to curse them into the Lake and watch them try and swim away but he knew it would just get him into more trouble. Trouble Harry didn't particularly want or need. He was barely controlling himself, so much so that he was considering using the Imperius to try and keep him quiet.

Then he realised he'd just be in the same position as Sirius Black.

Instead, Harry just stayed sat down and watched the giant squid swim around the lake, ignoring the mindless drawling that Draco was spewing from his gob. In all honesty, Harry was getting bored by Draco, there was no fun in seeing him punished anymore, considering that it happened on such a common basis the only time he didn't get punished was in Potions.

"Did you hear me, Potter? I said that my father is having the great beast executed for almost killing me." Draco said, almost triumphantly.

"Executed because someone couldn't control themselves. How shameful. Do you feel like the big man now Malfoy? Do you feel like you own the place again because your dad waved his wand and all the problems went away?" Harry quickly responded, continuing to watch the lake.

"How dare you!"

"I dare all the time, Malfoy. Have you not been watching me the first two years we've been here?"

"Sorry, Potter. Didn't you know? I don't believe in rumours." Malfoy spoke.

Harry soon continued to ignore the pompous imbecile, leaving him to prance about the area as Harry ate some lemon sherberts that Arthur had given to him. He could still hear Malfoy's boasts as he 'taunted' Harry about the execution of Buckbeak, but it soon got boring.

"Are you done, Malfoy? I'm getting tired now, your voice really does drain people of the will to live."

The look Malfoy gave him was one of anger. Malfoy was done with Potter insulting him, and making him look bad in front of everyone. Every time Draco had a plan to deal with Potter, it almost always backfired, and Potter still came out looking like a hero. Draco hated it, and he had enough of it.

"That's it Potter, it's time someone put you in your place. Since it seems that nobody else will do it, I'll do it for them and show them that Harry Potter is just a fraud." 

Draco drew his wand and was about to curse Harry, but his wand flew out of his hand before he could utter anything. Harry turned to see Daphne and Cedric behind Draco and his goons, and he was thankful that they had stopped Draco before he really hurt himself.

"Hop along, Malfoy. Snape's looking for you." Daphne said, so Crabbe and Goyle began to move.

Malfoy refused to move, glaring at Daphne as she still had his wand in her hand. She smiled at him, but he knew it meant nothing. Ever since Daphne had encased his parts in ice he was rather careful around the Greengrass heiress. It was probably the most painful thing he had felt in his entire life, and he didn't feel like going through it again.

Cedric Diggory just stared at him, with distaste clear in his eyes. Malfoy didn't care about him though, he was a Hufflepuff. He was in Hufflepuff because he could not fit in any other house, not even in the pathetic Gryffindor house. He revelled in mocking the Hufflepuffs, they were the most pathetic wizards in existence, at least that was what Malfoy and some of the other Slytherins thought, and it was no secret that some Gryffindors and Ravenclaws thought the same thing.

Malfoy soon went off with his goons, leaving Cedric and Daphne alone with Harry. Many had began to wonder why the Diggory boy had began to spend so much time with Harry, but he always told them that Harry was a close friend of his family. He didn't particularly care if people believed it, but Cedric was a popular student in the school, and it lessened the bullying that Harry usually suffered, something Harry would be eternally grateful for.

"Thank you." Harry said, continuing to watch the squid as it swam in the lake.

"It was Malfoy, I wouldn't have hesitated to freeze his parts again just for the fun of it." Daphne replied with a smirk.

"You mean that's true? You froze Malfoy's..." Cedric wandered off into silence.

"Yes, Cedric. Yes I did." 

Cedric found it rather amusing, and had a large smile on his face for most of the rest of the day. He was thankful that somebody else had done it, otherwise he wouldn't have hesitated to have someone do it, or have the pleasure of doing it himself. It was with the help of his other house members that he managed to control himself. They all hated Malfoy and his cronies, but nobody did anything so they didn't stoop to his level.

Cedric was one of the few that regretted doing it. What Malfoy was doing was wrong, and he should have stopped him earlier.

Harry was of the same mind. There were so many times where he wished he could have just hexed Malfoy's parts off and continued with his day, but he had some decent semblance of self-control over himself. He knew Cedric did too, and the two had become close friends since the start of Harry's third year. Harry had somewhat connected to Cedric when his father had died, as they both suffered the loss of losing both parents.

 _It was true what people say about Hufflepuffs, they are loyal._ Harry thought.

"What was Malfoy on about Harry? About a beast?" Daphne asked.

"Buckbeak. The hippogriff that nearly hurt him. Lucius Malfoy complained and now Minister Fudge has ordered an execution." Harry admitted, a twinge of sadness in his voice.

"Then we're going to save him." Daphne stated.

"We are?" Cedric responded.

"Yes, how else could we get back at Draco and Lucius Malfoy better than this? C'mon Cedric, I know how buddy-buddy you are with the Weasleys. They'd be proud of you if you hoodwinked the Ministry of Magic, and with Harry Potter? It's not like it's going to fail is it?" 

The more Daphne spoke about saving the hippogriff, the more Cedric and Harry were convinced that saving Buckbeak was a good idea. Daphne had such a way with words that Harry and Cedric soon thought that there was no better way to get back at the Malfoys than save Buckbeak. The trio soon ran off from the Black Lake and to Hagrid's hut, where Buckbeak would have been situated.

They went down to the hut where they saw a furious Lucius Malfoy, an embarrassed Fudge and a sad executioner. As soon as the three entered the hut, all they could see was an ecstatic Hagrid and no hippogriff anywhere. The trio settled for tea before they went off wandering into the Forbidden Forest.

 _ **X-X-X**_

It was around four in the afternoon when Harry, Daphne and Cedric had gone out into the forest. It had been a regular occurrence for Harry, wandering into the forest and encountering some kind of scary creature. In the first year it was encountering Quirrel/Voldemort and in the second year it was encountering Aragog and the colony of Acromantulas that almost killed Ron and himself if not for Arthur Weasley's flying Ford Anglia.

So, it would be three in a row if Harry had ended up encountering some kind of beast in the middle of the forest. He had always thought it would be something scarier than a bunch of oversized spiders but it just happened to be some extremely weird type of flying horse. Their skin was black and it felt like leather when Harry brushed his hand over it. They seemed to have wings that flapped slightly when Harry stroked them on the snout.

He turned to see Daphne and Cedric looking at him as if he were completely insane.

"Harry, there's nothing there." Cedric started.

"No, Cedric there is!" Harry sputtered. "Can't you see them?"

"Them? What are you on about Harry there's nothing there!" Daphne replied.

Harry beckoned the both of them closer to the eerie beast, and both placed their hands on the animal. They looked as if their hands were merely floating in the air, but they could both feel the leathery skin and could hear the occasional snorts of the beast.

"It's a thestral..." Daphne murmured.

"A what?"

"A thestral, Harry. They're meant to be creatures of bad luck because you can only see them if you've seen death. It's obvious that you can see them, but me and dear Cedric haven't."

Harry gave a small smile. The thestrals were gentle and kind, and the young foals seemed to be the cutest. Harry couldn't help but want to ride one, considering that they reminded Harry of horses that he had seldom seen.

Suddenly, the thestrals began to walk off snorting and shuffling awkwardly away from the three students. There was a sudden increase in the noise, and even Harry, Daphne and Cedric could hear it from where they were situated. It sounded like pounding of a herd of wildebeasts, but not as heavy. Harry caught the outline of a horses body, and the upper body of a human. He managed to see the shadow of a bow, and then two more and then more again.

"Centaurs. Centaurs are coming." Harry said.

"We need to go then, don't we? The centaurs don't like us trespassing in the forest." Cedric said.

Daphne seemed unsure of what to do, clearly it was her first venture into adventure with Harry, and it was the same with Cedric. Harry, like the Gryffindor that he was, marched forward only to be pushed back by the leader of the herd of Centaurs. The herd seemed to shout and roar at the trio before the leader silenced them.

"Harry? Harry, is that you?"

"Firenze?" Harry responded, almost as confused.

"I'm so sorry, my boy. I didn't recognise you, it's been a long while since I last saw you. Looking more and more like a young man as the stars pass." 

"Thank you, Firenze. I-" As Harry was about to speak, one of the other Centaurs spoke to Firenze before focusing all of his attention on Harry.

"What is it you ask of me, Harry?" Firenze asked.

"I was about to ask if you had seen a man with a hippogriff in the forest, we need to find him." 

"I did. Bane, you shall lead the herd and I shall escort these three to the Hippogriff Tamer."

The herd stomped in a second flat, and without any stumbles. They roared and shouted in their own mysterious language, and it was not Harry, Daphne or Cedric's place to judge. Firenze turned and began to lead them through the forest. The centaur had not changed a bit, he spoke in riddles and always mentioned the stars in some way. Harry didn't mind it, he knew divination well enough to understand most of what he was saying, but when he began to mention the planets and the universe, it began to mystify Harry as to why he always spoke of them.

As soon as they got to the other end of the forest, it took Harry, Daphne and Cedric to the Whomping Willow. Firenze soon left to catch up with the herd and left the trio to reach whoever had taken Buckbeak.

They were shocked when they saw the familiar wolf and raven sat beside him and perched on his shoulder respectively.

 _ **X-X-X**_

Arthur had been followed, he could sense the smell of Centaur anywhere.

He had been certain that he hadn't been followed by anyone or anything in the forest, as a precaution he had muddled the tracks and created multiple fake tracks to lead whoever followed him astray. It was needless to say that it was pointless in trying as somebody had managed to successfully go and follow him to the Whomping Willow, where he had released Buckbeak, although the hippogriff was reluctant to fly away.

He was joined by Onyx and Pincher, the two familiars that seemed to show up only when they wanted to, and not when Arthur needed them. He was sure whatever plagued the raven to cause tardiness had also been transferred to the wolf, as Onyx now seemed to enjoy either sleeping in Arthur's room or following Harry Potter around the school.

Arthur had been trying to get the hippogriff to fly off for a while now, but Arthur knew how bloody stubborn the great beasts could be. Years of taming beasts as a hobby, and the occasional stress of having a great sphinx live in your backyard could do it to someone. Arthur sometimes wondered if his hair would ever go grey with the amount of stress he had been put through sometimes.

 _Dark Lords, magical cultists, the business, the animals and this school? I'm surprised I haven't gotten grey hair yet._ Arthur mused.

He heard Onyx give a small whine, loud enough to hear but quiet enough so it didn't sound like he was going to start howling. Then Pincher started cawing and it almost gave Arthur and immediate migraine on how loud the screeching was. Arthur reached deep into his overcoat and pulled out some corn, feeding the crow to shut him up. There was a cracking of a twig, and Arthur immediately turned to see Harry Potter, Daphne Greengrass and Cedric Diggory behind him.

"I should have known it would be you, Harry. However, you surprise me. Mr. Diggory, Miss Greengrass instead of Weasley and Granger? Where would they happen to be?" 

"In the dorms sir. Me and Ron aren't exactly getting on and Hermione is studying as usual." 

Arthur seemed to nod and began to pet the hippogriff beside him, who still refused to fly off. Arthur took a wild guess and guessed that Harry wasn't going to ask him for tea.

"What are you doing, Professor?" Cedric asked.

"Sticking two fat fingers up the Ministry and Lucius Malfoy, but I presume Miss Greengrass knows that." 

"Why sir?" Asked Harry, probing the professor for more answers.

Arthur sighed. "It seems that due to your stunt in Hogsmeade, Fudge and Malfoy decided to team up on Dumbledore and dole out some misery and punishment to the school. Draco Malfoy must have wrote a letter to his father about Buckbeak here harming him, even though he never touched him."

"I know that, sir. Malfoy wouldn't shut up about it before. I wanted to curse him." 

"You wanted to or you did?" Arthur asked.

"Wanted to. I really wanted to."

Arthur chuckled and continued to pet Buckbeak. The children just stared at him until Harry walked up the beast first, who allowed Harry to pet him. It seemed that Buckbeak had gotten comfortable where he was, and sat down in the grass, watching the overlook as Arthur began to explain to Harry, Daphne and Cedric.

"They were going to kill him, you know? All based on a false statement and some gold, they were going to kill him." Arthur spoke. "It's why I hate the Ministry. They are just so easy to blind, people with enough gold may as well become the minister themselves. Our government, our own magical culture is backward and corrupt, we may as well still be in the Dark Ages."

"How can it be so bad, Professor?" Cedric asked. "How can it be so bad as the Dark Ages?"

"Call me Arthur, Mr. Diggory, we aren't in school time any more. How can it be so bad as the Dark Ages you say? Well, I'll tell you. We live in a time where arranged marriages still exist, we have a government that actively segregates and discriminates other wizards. We cannot live side-by-side by others such as the Centaurs or the Giants lest we cause unnecessary bloodshed. We may as well be living in mud huts and hitting each other with sticks and dancing around campfires.

"Harry, you'll soon learn that life in Magical Britain is not as cosy as you think it is. There are no true allies here, at least that was what my father believed. He was an idiot, as I have discovered, and I don't call my father an idiot very often. He abhorred the Light and Neutral families with a passion, he said they were so stupid as to think people would always believe there was a good and bad side to everything. You and Miss Greengrass are smart enough to realise that this world is not all sunshine and daisies, in fact, all three of you are. You have all experienced the worst life has had to offer. So have I, but you have all had it infinitely worse. Cedric, you have suffered the loss of your parents. Harry, you have suffered the loss of your parents and been abused at the hands of your muggle guardians. Daphne, you have seen the very worst of what the wizarding world can do.

"I regret many things that I have done, you three. Some of them were stupid, foolish or whatever you want to call it. My father and myself hated each other with a passion, although we could never show it in public, it was always apparent. It was only at his funeral that I realised how much he meant to me, how much losing a parent means to a child. I never understood it before, but I do now. My father, Edric Regis Urien, made his apologies and left this world, and I have no doubt that it was due to some kind of divine intervention. I also have no doubt that my father was not always the cantankerous and curmudgeonly arse that he was when I knew him. He used to be the man that my mother loved and cherished and married. He used to be the man who cared for my brothers and my sisters, he was the man who raised me and trained me to be who I am, and I am thankful for it, although I never showed it." 

There was a large silence, and even the three animals that surrounded the four people were silent. Buckbeak had let Onyx and Pincher lie next to him, the most unordinary family of animals that could have been seen ever. The students looked rather put down by the revelation of Arthur's family and his words. Not even Daphne had seen Arthur Noctis Urien in such a state.

"I've been wanting to make up for my mistakes for a long time now, and I can't think of a better way of doing it than adopting you both, Harry and Cedric. I would understand however, if you would rather not be part of my family, it will be a lot different from what both of you are used to. However, I feel like it would be the right thing to do, for both of you and myself." 

Again, there was another silence, and Harry and Cedric decided to go for a small discussion until they turned back to the young professor. Harry and Cedric had small smiles on their faces before they began to speak.

Cedric began. "Well, me and Harry have discussed the pros and cons of such an arrangement. We have decided to think about it..." 

Arthur's eyes seemed to fall.

Harry finished off everything. "But, once we've discussed it, it would be an offer we would be happy to accept." 

It seemed like Arthur was about to fly to the moon, with how happy he seemed to be when Harry had said he would accept. It didn't happen though because as soon as Arthur was about to fly off to the moon, something threw him to the ground and dragged him away, under the Whomping Willow.

Every thing was chaos, Pincher and Onyx were on whatever had dragged Arthur away like a fly on rice. They both dived under the living tree and chased whatever had taken Arthur. Buckbeak didn't know what to do and just strolled around the tree, looking concerned for the person who had saved him. Harry was dead set on what he knew he had to do.

"We have to save him."

Those were the words that were said by Harry Potter before he ran and dodged and ducked the swinging twigs and arms of the tree. It wasn't long before Cedric and Daphne followed him, sliding down the passage until they fell and hit the floor. Harry seemed to have gotten down fine, and had already drawn his wand.

"You seem eager to get into trouble, Potter." Daphne muttered.

"I think a teacher being kidnapped counts as a reason to get your wand out." Cedric replied.

"Oh, Potter loves to get his wand out, don't you Potter?" Daphne said.

Harry's only possible reply to the joking comment was to blush. He knew what Daphne was implying, his wand being a certain part of his body. He didn't know how to respond to something like that. He didn't even know if Daphne liked him in that way, or if she was just joking around. Cedric smirked and the older Hufflepuff boy led them out from the tunnels and into what looked like an abandoned, desolate and almost demolished house that should have been taken down.

They heard a roar and some growls and spells were fired. The trio ran upstairs to where the shouting had came from, but they weren't ready for what they saw.

Arthur had been floored, but stood above him was the man that Harry had wanted to confront for a long time.

Sirius Black.

 _ **X-X-X**_

 **Been a little while since I made another chapter for this, I've been trying to focus on other stories to do when I finish this and The Titan's Wrath, but I'm also contemplating doing a sequel to this and also my Game of Thrones and Dark Souls crossover. However, I'm going to focus on this and Titan's Wrath until they're both finished.**

 **~The One Italian Stallion~**


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16: Sirius Orion Black

Harry was flabbergasted.

He did not have a single idea as to how Sirius Black could have even managed to have taken such an experienced wizard such as Professor Urien by surprise. Maybe it was just his massive expectations of both Urien and Lupin, as they seemed to be leaps and bounds better than both Quirrel and Lockheart put together. Lupin knew a lot about the dark beasts that they were learning about, and it seemed that Urien knew how to combine multiple spells and create a great chain of spells that seemed to confuse and disorient any one. It definitely put Harry off his game, and it seemed to do the same to Daphne, just not to the same extent.

Black had not realised that three students were looking through the door way, completely oblivious as he pointed his wand to Professor Urien. His body trembled and shivered, as if he were freezing to death. His clothes were torn and worn, and seemed to be too big for his starved and shrivelled frame. His hair was scraggly and matted, his hands and face were grey and gaunt. The wand he held in his hand was crooked, as if it were almost about to break in half the moment he cast the next spell. In comparison to Professor Urien, he looked like a pauper.

Professor Urien seemed to be dressed as if he were going to a fancy ball in France. Harry and Daphne were used to seeing him dressed casually, as if he were a muggle that just was not meant to be anywhere near Hogwarts. He was the only one, other than Lupin, that seemed to dress somewhat like a muggle. Compared to Black, his flesh was full of colour and his clothes fit him perfectly. His hair was tied back and his stubble had disappeared. His Oxfords and pinstriped trousers were covered in dirt from the shack, and his white dress shirt was almost completely hidden by a trench coat with golden floral patterns stitched into the back and arms. From what Harry could tell, it seemed made of genuine leather.

Sirius was shaking even more, and his wand seemed to drift closer and closer towards Arthur's head, almost touching the centre. The tip of the wand seemed to glow red, then blue and then finally white. Harry didn't know what that meant, but he drew his wand and was ready to charge in at any moment.

"Harry, wait! We don't know what he's capable of!" Daphne hissed. "If we go in wands blazing, it's likely that he'll kill us, and then the professor!"

"Harry, she's right." Cedric whispered. "We should at least wait a little bit."

"No, I need to talk to him right now. After everything I've found out this year, and everything that I have gone through, I have to, no, need to talk to him."

Thousands of thoughts raced through Harry's head. The man in front of him was Sirius Black, the man that was meant to be his father's best friend. To others, he was the man that had betrayed his parents to Voldemort. If anything, Harry was more leaning towards that he didn't believe the widely believed story. Harry tended to believe the words of the Goblins and Dumbledore more than some spectacle writer at the _Daily Prophet_ like Rita Skeeter. Harry pressed his ear against the door a little more, and he could begin to hear the conversation between the two men.

"How do I know you didn't kill Wormtail?" Arthur had asked.

"Because there wasn't any body! There was no proof that I obliterated him like the papers said! They lied! I never betrayed James and Lily, and I never would! I definitely wouldn't kill my own godson!"

Sirius sounded like he had suffered a thousand years worth of insanity. The man's voice was shaky, and sometimes his voice went high, and then at times he went extremely low. Sometimes he shouted, and sometimes his voice was as quiet as a whisper. With everyone small movement, the tears in his clothes became larger, and his movements became more erratic. As he flew about the room, the coat that he wore over the Azkaban inmate uniform broke apart, and it revealed the almost skeletal body of Sirius Black.

"Arthur, you know I would never lay a finger on them! Why do you think I wanted to kill Peter when I realised who gave them away?"

"Why didn't you tell anyone else? Why didn't you tell me? Why didn't you tell Albus? Why didn't you ask me to help you? Why couldn't you have just asked us to help catch him? Why, Padfoot?"

"Because I thought that none of you believed me!" Sirius yelled over the younger man.

"What!?" Arthur exclaimed. "We all knew that Peter's disappearance was suspicious, why do you think the Order disbanded? We knew there was a spy, and Pettigrew was a suspect, like many others!"

As soon as Arthur had finished speaking, he smacked the wand pointed toward his head away. He pushed Sirius away and leapt to his feet. He drew his wand, and was suddenly attacked by Sirius. A purple blade stretched from the tip of his wand, and he began to bat away the oncoming spells like they were nothing. The small purple blade then flew from the tip of the wand and embedded itself into the wall just behind Sirius.

"I won't wait, I need to stop this before they kill themselves!" Harry said, charging through the door.

"Harry, wait!" Yelled Cedric and Daphne as Harry charged into the room.

Harry charged into the room, interrupting the small duel going on. The door almost splintered and broke as the youngest boy broke the through the mouldy door. The duel stopped almost instantly, and the two men before Harry, Cedric and Daphne began to treat their wounds as they tried to talk to the Boy-Who-Lived. It seemed that the two men had hurt each other to equal extent. Sirius was pulling small purple blades out of his grey flesh, and Arthur was bandaging wounds from cutting hexes sent from Sirius' wand.

"Harry! Move out the way! What are you even doing here?" Arthur yelled, as he drew another wand from his ankle and aimed it at the convict.

"I'm here to stop you from killing each other! You could have killed Sirius with that spell! And you, Sirius Black, I've got some questions for you!" 

Cedric and Daphne kept their wands trained on their Defence teacher, making sure that he wouldn't unleash a barrage of spells on Harry or Sirius. Harry kept his own wand trained on the infamous Sirius Black. The malnourished and clearly crazy convict was meant to have been his godfather, yet he was also meant to be the man who betrayed his parent to the Dark Lord.

"Harry, my boy. It's been so long..." Sirius began, almost about to run over to Harry and tackle him.

"Stay where you are. I won't hesitate to stun you if I have to. I need proof that you didn't betray my parents, I need proof that you don't support Voldemort." Harry shot back.

Sirius walked back a little, before stowing his wand in it's holster. As if he had an amazing idea, Sirius rolled his sleeves all the way to his shoulders, and had a wide grin on his face. Although his arms were covered in dirt, there was no incriminating evidence on his arms, not after thirteen years of being in Azkaban.

"You have arms, so? What proof is that?" Harry asked.

"I don't have the dark mark. I don't have his mark, Harry. Any supporter of Voldemort would have some kind of mark on their wrist. I don't, because I never betrayed Lily and James, I never betrayed your parents. If Dumbledore asks, Arthur, I never betrayed the Order. I never betrayed anyone."

"He has a point, Harry." Daphne interrupted. "My father was a part of the original Order, he told me. He might not have fought, but he contributed heavily towards it." 

"As did mine, Harry. If Sirius doesn't have the mark, he probably didn't betray them." Cedric also revealed.

The group of five stood in silence, waiting for someone to break the uneasy silence. Arthur still had his two wands in hand, but slowly began to place them back in their holsters before brushing the dirt and dust off of his clothes. Sirius seemed to breathe easy at that, as he began to move closer to Harry, albeit slowly.

"Dumbledore was right. It wasn't you, was it?" Harry asked, his wand still pointed at Sirius.

"I'd never betray my friends, I would have rather died than betray them."

The look of Sirius as he said the words, and the way he said them became more and more convincing to Harry the more he looked at the man. He could still see the sorrow in his eyes whenever his parents were mentioned. The brightness of his eyes dimmed whenever he was accused of being the traitor, and he would always immediately jump to defend himself.

"He didn't betray them Harry, but we know who did."

Harry turned, and he could see two shadows walking up the stairs. The voice was familiar, and Harry traced it to being the voice of Professor Lupin. He looked dishevelled, and his suit looked even more worn and torn than usual. The next man stood tall over the professor, and his beard fell to his stomach. The elderly voice immediately told the group that it was Dumbledore.

"Lower your wand, Harry. Sirius Black never betrayed your parents." Dumbledore spoke, and all three of the young wizards holstered their wands.

The three wizards moved towards the side as the four men huddled into a square, with Dumbledore's arms wrapped tight around them. There was a small amount of whispering and a small celebratory shout from Sirius. A small golden glow hovered around the four men, and soon they disbanded. Sirius Black had the biggest smile on his face that Harry had ever seen.

"It isn't Sirius that betrayed your parents, Harry." Arthur said, with a small smile as he stood next to Sirius.

"You were about ready to blow his head off before, what changed?" Daphne asked. "What was so important that you had to whisper away from us?" 

Dumbledore answered the question for the other wizards, and began to explain in full detail, and soon he spoke:

"Sirius Black just signed an Unbreakable Vow with each and every one of us. Essentially, if he took the vow and lied about what we would ask him, well, it definitely would not end well for Lord Black. We asked him if he killed Lily and James Potter, and he replied in the negative. Clearly he's still here, so we asked him if he betrayed their location to Voldemort and he replied in the negative again. We thought we were done, but Professor Urien here asked if Sirius was the secret keeper at all. Sirius finally replied in the negative, and he never died. Sirius Black truly is innocent."

"Which means..."

"The only man that could have been responsible for your parents' betrayal, is Peter Pettigrew. I'll ask you this, if a man is dead then how can he betray someone?" Remus asked.

"If he isn't really dead." Cedric answered. He seemed to be handling the adventuring rather well, as was Daphne.

As the group spoke about how Pettigrew could have betrayed the Potters, but Harry could only focus on Daphne. She hadn't noticed him staring, although he did try and make it not as obvious. It seemed that Cedric noticed immediately, and gave a cheeky smirk but did not say anything, listening intently to the voices of the older wizards. Harry couldn't even describe how he felt towards her. Every moment he looked at her, he was entranced by how beautiful she was. The silky silver-blonde hair, the perfect curves and the personality, she was everything Harry wanted and more.

And he could not even think of the words to say to her.

 _Yes, I'm the Boy-Who-Lived. Yes, I killed Lord Voldemort, stole the Philosophers Stone, killed a Basilisk. It's not as if talking to girls should be a problem for me, should it? Oh wait, it's not like I was never raised properly and had any decent preparation for life itself is it? Nah, I'll just go wherever the stream takes me… God help me, Harry James Potter…_ Harry thought as he looked at Daphne.

Sirius seemed to be smiling as wide as he could be, despite his abhorrent state of health. He looked as if he had walked through hell and back for thirteen years in a row. Dumbledore allowed him to pass, and Arthur and Remus seemed to be smiling just as much. They clapped the innocent man on the back, and allowed him to get close to Harry. Sirius tried to say something, but the words just couldn't come out.

"It's been a long thirteen years, Harry Potter. It's nice to finally meet you." Said Sirius.

Harry didn't know what to say either, the man was his guardian, his godparent. This man never betrayed his parents, and instead tried to kill the man who did. He could not blame Sirius for doing it, he wanted to do it to the same person.

Peter Pettigrew.

"It's nice to meet you too, Sirius." Harry simply replied.

From Harry's point of view, it seemed a little too fast to go into a hug, but Sirius didn't care. The older man took Harry into his arms and hugged him with all his might. The man was his godfather, and he hadn't seen him in thirteen years since he was born, yet he treated Harry as if he were his own son. If Harry was being honest, it felt weird being hugged by someone who truly loved him. This man would have raised him if he had not been framed by the government.

"I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but we don't have enough sufficient evidence to prove Sirius' innocence. Our best bet would be trying to find Pettigrew." Arthur said, twirling his two wands in his hands as he spoke.

"Do we have the Marauders' Map?" Remus asked. "That way we can at least eliminate Hogwarts."

"I do." Harry quickly replied. He tore the parchment out of his pocket and began to unfold it.

As soon as he had unfolded and said the password, the ink began to spread all over the parchment and create the map of Hogwarts. Names slowly began to appear on the map, and the children found it particularly amusing when the names 'Draco Malfoy' and 'Pansy Parkinson' inside a broom cupboard outside the Slytherin Dungeons.

More and more names began to appear all over the map, and it didn't take long until a myriad of names were all over the parchment. Harry's eyes darted all over the parchment until Daphne's finger pointed at the Gryffindor Tower. Right beside the name of 'Ron Weasley', was the name they were all looking for.

"Peter Pettigrew." Sirius muttered under his breath. "He's a rat. It's how he was never discovered."

"Scabbers. Peter Pettigrew is Scabbers." 

"Scabbers?" The four teachers asked.

"Ron's rat. He keeps trying to run away whenever he gets the chance. I think Hermione's cat could tell something was wrong considering it kept trying to eat it." 

The four teachers quickly began to file out of the room, and then began to exit the Shrieking Shack. The three students began to follow them, as they ran to the Gryffindor Tower. Dumbledore seemed to move rather quickly for someone of his age, and Sirius was the quickest of the lot, sprinting all the way to his former dormitory in a rush to catch the man who had escaped him years before.

Soon, the children and the professors grouped up at the door painting. Dumbledore quickly said 'fortuna major' and the door opened for the group. To say Cedric and Daphne were nervous about entering the dorm would have been an understatement. Harry had no idea why Cedric would have been nervous, but he had a decent idea of why Daphne would have been. Over Harry's third year, it began to come to Harry that the Gryffindors were just as discriminating against the Slytherins as it was the other way around. Ron and Draco seemed to be the exact opposites, but Harry soon saw that Ron was saying exactly the same things as Draco, just swapping the names.

Harry knew it wasn't true. Daphne wasn't a snake, at least as much as he knew her. She was intelligent and sneaky, but she wasn't like Draco or Pansy, or anyone that shared the same views.

As Harry had expected, there were a multitude of shrieks and gasps as they laid their eyes on the form of Sirius Black. Some drew their wands and attempted to stop him, but were immediately disarmed by the three other teachers that were escorting the convict through the dorms. Ron was the first to try and defend the other students, although he tried to get his wand whilst holding Scabbers, failing horribly as he dropped his wand on the floor. Sirius strode up to Ronald and grabbed a hold of the squirming rat as it tried its hardest to get away.

Sirius placed his hand against the rat's neck and a white light shot from his wand. The rat flew to the floor and began to write in what looked like pain. Soon, the rat disappeared in a flash, replaced by the writing form of a stout, fat man in a dirty coat. His head was covered in a small groups of spots, usually accompanied by little specks of hair popping out all over his head. His clothes were torn and broken, with multiple tears and holes in them. His shoes were broken, and his nails could almost have been considered claws.

The man turned over, and looked over at the group of people in front of him. First, his eyes were on Sirius and then Harry and finally Dumbledore. Wands of all types were pointed at him, by the teachers and by some of the Gryffindor students.

"Harry? Dumbledore? Remus? Sirius!" The man squabbled to his feet. "It's been such a long time since we last met!"

Nobody said anything towards the barrel-like man. Her turned to look at everyone who was staring at him or pointing wands towards him. He tried to draw his own wand and aim it at Harry, but Arthur quickly disarmed him, leaving the man wandless.

"Arthur? Oh, how you've grown! You were still a teen when you joined the Order. The youngest one of all of us, and still living. Such a shame about your father..." Pettigrew mewled.

"Be quiet, scum. You don't deserve to be living. The only reason I or Sirius haven't killed you yet is because we need you." Arthur spat, aiming both wands at Pettigrew's head.

Dumbledore soon ended the tense silence. He seemed as if he were going to hand him his wand, but quickly pulled it back and without even a whisper, petrified Peter Pettigrew. It surprised most of the Gryffindors that were simply observing. The man was as straight as a pencil, and had fell back to the floor as stiff as a statue.

"So, that's Peter Pettigrew?" Daphne asked.

"The one and only." Sirius replied. "Check his arm, Harry. That's all the proof you'll need to see that he betrayed your parents." 

Harry nervously knelt beside the stout and rat-like man. He began to slowly roll up the sleeve of the man, and quickly rubbed away the dirt. There was a faint outline of a skull, with a snake coming out of the mouth. It was all the evidence Harry needed.

"So, Pettigrew was a Death Eater?" Cedric asked.

"He disappeared halfway through the first war. He was the secret keeper for the Potters when they went into hiding. Then, when Voldemort somehow finds Godric's Hollow where Harry's parents were hiding, we had our suspicions. Well, Sirius did anyway." Remus answered, as he began to haul up the frozen body of Pettigrew.

Some of the Gryffindors began to shuffle away into their rooms, whilst only a select few remained in the room. The Weasleys were confused and somewhat suspicious of what had just happened.

"You mean..." George began.

"We had a terrorist..." Fred started.

"In our own house..." George continued.

"For thirteen years?" Fred finished.

It was difficult to ascertain how the twins felt about the whole situation. Thirteen years was a very strange life for a common garden rat, at least that was what Scabbers was meant to be. Soon, there was a certain kind of cold coming down on the tower, and then the fire went out completely. A small fog obscured the ground, and the windows began to be obscured as fog began to lower on the Gryffindor Tower.

There was a ghastly howl, and soon there was the sound of smashing glass. A cloaked black figure floated above the group of teachers and children, and it became even colder. He floated motionlessly, allowing the black cloth waving in the air, hiding the figure underneath. Grey and mottled flesh could be seen on the arms, and soon the creature began to get closer.

"It's a Dementor!" Sirius shouted, almost fearfully.

"Defend the children!" Arthur exclaimed.

Quickly, the children got in a small group and allowed the professors to go around them, circling them as more Dementors entered the room. Arthur was thankful that most of the students had gone to their rooms and stayed their. There weren't enough teachers to defend the entire house. There was a brief shuffling from behind him, and soon Harry had joined the circle.

"You'll need as much help as you can get." He said, and drew his wand.

All four of the professors and prepared for the worst, as the Dementors began to edge closer and closer towards the group…

 _ **X-X-X**_

 _ **I just love to leave cliffhangers everywhere.**_

 _ **~The Real Italian Stallion~**_


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17: Reinforcements

More and more Dementors had joined the others inside the Gryffindor Tower. The tower grew colder and colder as more of them entered and they began to get closer and closer to the group. There was no other way to describe the situation other than being extremely bad. Sirius seemed to be jumping and was sweating profusely, and Arthur could understand why he was getting more and more nervous as the demons got closer and closer. There was a small amount of relief as Harry joined them, especially as he seemed to be getting more and more proficient with his Patronus Charm.

But there were only five of them that were competent with the charm. Sirius seemed to not get a hold of himself, and that made five go down to four. Remus and Arthur were definitely able to perform the charm, and Harry would have been able to create one too. The others were not so sure about Dumbledore, but they didn't doubt his power and ability to create one either. The children seemed to be completely silent, watching every inch of the room as the Dementors seemed to stop moving towards them.

"Why did they stop?" Sirius asked.

It did seem that the Dementors had stopped completely. Why they stopped however, nobody had a clue. Arthur aimed his two wands at two of the Dementors that seemed to be edging closer to him, unlike the rest of their counterparts. His wands began to glow a pale white and Arthur was just about to release his own Patronuses until they stopped too. The cold never left, and the Dementors never left from where they came from either. Everyone wished that they would simply go back to Azkaban and guard the prisoners already there, but it seemed like that would never happen.

Arthur found himself fixating on the grey decaying and mottled flesh that was uncovered by the black cloth that covered the rest of the Dementors. Nobody really knew what was underneath the black clothing and hood. Nobody really asked and nobody really wanted to find out. The grey mottled flesh that could be seen was a grisly warning that whatever hid under the cloaks was definitely not going to be pretty.

"This wasn't meant to happen." Dumbledore said. "They were never meant to break into the school."

"I don't think it matters any more, headmaster." Remus replied.

"Who even decided it was a good idea to send them here?" Harry asked.

"Blame the Ministry, they usually always cock up like this most of the time." Arthur answered.

There was a horrifying screech from the Dementors, and they soon advanced on the group of wizards and witches. Stunners and hexes shot into the air from the students in the middle of the room, and a few select wizards cast their patronuses. Dumbledore's wand shot out a powerful phoenix which began to harass and attack any of the Dementors that tried to fly over the group. Arthur, Sirius and Remus cast theirs, and soon the floor of the Gryffindor common room was covered by the fog of the Dementors and the ghostly white trails of Arthur's wolf, Remus' werewolf and Sirius' grim.

The ghostly animals chased the Dementors all around the room, with them keeping the grisly guards away from the children for most of the battle. What really tipped the battle in the wizards' favour against the Dementors was Harry's patronus.

" **EXPECTO PATRONUM!"**

After the fearsome cry from Harry Potter, the fog from his wand no longer appeared and was soon appeared by an almost solid form of a mighty stag. As soon as the stag was released from the wand, it danced around the room gracefully, waving away the Dementors that tried to get close to the group. One Dementor seemed to try and dive for Sirius, only to be impaled upon the stag's mighty antlers. The Dementor caught upon the antlers screeched and screamed out in some kind of pain as it tried and tried to pull itself off of the antlers. The Dementor that was caught on the antlers soon began to dissipate, soon leaving a pile of black cloaks lying on the floor.

However, one dead Dementor was not enough to deter the rest of the others from trying to go after the group. More and more Dementors continued to try and go after the vulnerable wizards, and soon enough the patronuses were not enough to keep them away from the group. Soon, one of the Dementors got close enough to Sirius and a thin stream stretched from Sirius' mouth to the Dementor's. Sirius fell to one knee, breathing heavily as his Patronus began to fade away slightly, before his patronus finally disappeared.

"Sirius! Get up! We need that patronus!" Arthur yelled, firing off two stunners as his ghostly wolf brought on Dementor to the floor and began to savage it.

Sirius shook his head and began to sound like he was crying. Tears ran down his thin face and fell to the floor as the Dementors began to overcome the patronuses. The ghostly animals were replaced by small shields of fog that made sure that the Dementors bounced off of when they tried to get close to the students. Even Dumbledore seemed to begin to tire out, and his phoenix began to fade, yet it still managed to fly and wave away the oncoming Dementors.

" **Expecto Patronum!"** Cedric shouted.

Somehow, Cedric managed to shout out the charm as well. Although the initial shock wore off quickly, the wizards were quickly empowered by the ghostly leopard that began to bound all over the room. Once more the wizards began to press on and cast the Patronus once more. Some of them cast a weaker shield, whilst Remus, Arthur, Harry and Cedric continued to wield their own corporeal patronus.

Harry soon turned to Daphne, who began to shrink and move into the centre of the group surrounded by Cedric, Harry and the teachers.

"Come on, Daphne. You know the Patronus charm too!" Harry yelled, as his stag forced away two more Dementors that tried to harm him.

"It won't be strong enough, Harry! It'll be useless!" Daphne replied.

"Anything is better than nothing!"

Harry quickly dragged Daphne from out of the centre of the group, and he continued to fight off the Dementors alongside the older wizards. Harry and Daphne stood around the other Gryffindors and Harry constantly pressed Daphne to cast her own patronus. Daphne was silent for a little while, silently observing the chaos as Dementors and patronus fought all around them.

" **Expecto Patronum!"**

 _ **X-X-X**_

Celestine and Lunafreya took pride in being the ladies of House Urien. Celestine had always been the calmest one, even though she was the most emotional one too. She was the matriarch of the family, she led them through the hard times whenever the lord of House Urien could not. She took pride and honour in being the one to fix all the big problems that her children got into. It didn't happen often, but when it happened, it was always on a grand scale.

Lunafreya was a completely different story. Lunafreya was the youngest daughter of Celestine and acted like a child, although she definitely was not. Every single one of Celestine's children were extremely intelligent. Her children were her greatest achievement, and they would honour her and their father when she finally passed (although that day was a very long day away).

The one thing that Celestine regretted doing was fighting with her husband over Guinevere when she left. Guinevere had always been the rebellious child, and her husband had despised her for it, and even vilified her when she almost killed his youngest son. Guinevere was never forgiven when she took a young Arthur out to the fields near the Aethonan Winged Horses and almost got him killed.

Celestine soon decided to try and bring Guinevere back, and if she could not, then she would at least push Arthur into talking to her and trying to convince her.

The two Urien women wandered throughout the small and quaint little village of Hogsmeade as they made their way to the magical castle known as Hogwarts. All the areas of the castle were lit up, and some of the windows were darkened. Some of the windows could be seen with a light nearby, illuminating the nearby shadows of the teachers and pupils of the school.

"Do you think Arthur is asleep already, Mother?" Lunafreya asked, her hands entwined behind her back as she skipped towards the titanic castle.

"If I know my own son well enough, I severely doubt it, my dear child." 

As the two women got closer and closer to the castle, there was an unnerving sense of dread and sadness as they got closer to the school. It seemed to be even colder as they neared the metal gate that rose to allow them entry into the castle. Celestine and Lunafreya were reluctant to enter as the gates opened to accept them immediately.

"Aren't there meant to be wards here?" Luna asked.

"Meant to be, apparently they are meant to be the strongest wards in Britain. Something's wrong." 

Celestine's eyes rolled back into her head, and she could feel her free spirit roaming around the castle. There were so many presences she could feel, but there was one noticeable presence, one that could not be missed. She could feel a helpless presence surrounded by a feeling of pure horror, pure dread and such unwavering horror. She then felt her spirit return to her body and she immediately knew where to find her son.

"The Gryffindor Tower. We have to go there."

Celestine led Lunafreya all the way to the tower, and the overwhelming feeling of dread became closer and closer. They soon reached the painting door that was wide open, and there was a dense fog falling from the doorway.

"Are they..." Luna began, her voice beginning to shake slightly.

"Dementors. Don't be afraid, my sweet child. You know how to perform the Patronus. It seems your brother has gotten himself into trouble again." Celestine muttered with a small smile.

"And we have to pull him out of the fire again..."

"No signs of changing there for him. Oh well, lets get it done." 

The two women marched into the Gryffindor common room, and there was a horrifying sight. Dumbledore and Remus Lupin were nursing the unconscious Sirius Black and some of the Gryffindor students, whilst Harry Potter cradled a silver haired girl in his arms. A tall blonde boy held his wand defiantly against the Dementors that began to float closer and closer to the students once more.

What made Celestine proud was the sight of her youngest son. He stood tall, like his father had done multiple times. His two wands were pointed at different Dementors who tried to go after Harry, but he was throwing out stunners and patronus shields to keep them away. Even Harry was still trying to cast a patronus, as he nursed and cradled the beautiful girl in his arms. Harry laid his eyes on the two ladies who had entered the common room, and his eyes lit up like a bonfire. He looked over to Arthur and shouted out to him, as the professor began to cast some more obscure spells in different languages like Galician and Xhosa.

" **Iatego escuro!"** Arthur yelled, and a purple chain shot out from his wand and threw a Dementor away from the group.

" **Lume lamina!"** A fiery blade shot from the tips of his wand and embedded themselves in two other Demenotrs.

" **Tempestade!"** A large shockwave pushed all the Dementors away a few feet from the group, giving Arthur time to come up with more attacks and defences.

That was until a Dementor stormed up behind him and grabbed him with it's cold pale hands. A small stream conjoined Arthur and the Dementor and there was a horrifying scream from the youngest Urien child. Celestine had never felt a more terrifying feeling than before, and her maternal instincts kicked in as she went to protect her son.

" **Naomh Fuadaich!"** Celestine screamed, and a bright white light emerged from her body.

 _ **X-X-X**_

 _ **Don't forget to read and review!**_

 _ **~The Real Italian Stallion~**_


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18: The Dream

Harry woke up, yet he did not wake up where he had expected to. He had not woken up on the cold floor of the Gryffindor common room surrounded by Dementors, or waking up in a warm bed in the Hogwarts hospital surrounded by his best mates. It had happened the first year and would have happened the second year if he wasn't aided by Fawkes, the phoenix that belonged to Dumbledore.

Instead he woke up, in a white space. He was still dressed in what he wore when he was battling the Dementors, and he still had his wand. There was no sound, and there was nothing to see except the white empty and desolate space around him. Daphne was not there, Professor Urien or Dumbledore or Lupin were not there either. The defenceless Gryffindor students had gone as well, and the two ladies he managed to see enter the common rooms and save him were gone as well.

"Hello? Is anyone here?" Harry shouted, but to no reply.

He checked his wand and felt the tip that was still warm and he felt a little tingle in his stomach. He had managed to conjure a corporeal patronus! It was only something the most powerful of wizards could do, and Harry could do it as well! He had noticed the other patronuses flying and prowling around the ground, picking up Dementors or dragging them to the floor and savaging them. He was made even happier when Daphne had managed to create a corporeal patronus as well, and he could remember seeing the jaguar explode from her wand and began to bound all over the common room.

Another thing that would not leave Harry was the sight of his stag impaling a Dementor on it's great antlers. The ear-piercing screech made Harry want to tear off his ears and throw them as far away as he possibly could. When the screeching died and the Dementor's gowns and cloaks fell to the floor, he felt as if he could take on anything, a reminder of what he could do if he put his mind to his work.

"Lord Potter. Turn around."

Harry turned slowly and he could see an old and dishevelled man in front of him. One thing that Harry noticed immediately was that on each finger was a ring with some sort of red and black jewel entwined within the band. The man was dressed in white, and his trench coat was decorated with small purple flowers and vines going down to the edges. His hair was short and black, and there was a similar looking wolf padding around next to him.

Harry holstered his wand and began to move towards the old man. As he moved closer he noticed that the wolf was Onyx. The great wolf bounded over to him, almost knocking him over in the process. The old man chuckled, and hobbled over to Harry, offering a hand to pick him up. The man placed his weight on his black and purple cane as he pulled Harry up from the floor.

"I'm sorry, sir but I have no clue who you are." Harry mumbled, looking down at his feet.

"Chin up, boy, and don't call me sir. I used to work for a living. I take it my son has not said much about me, has he?" The man replied.

"Your son?"

"Arthur Noctis Urien. I believe you know him."

"Your..."

"I am indeed Edric Regis Urien. A former Knight of the Round Table and bannerman of King Arthur Pendragon. Just call me Urien, Lord Potter."

Harry was shocked, because from what he knew, Edric Regis Urien was dead. If he was talking to Edric Urien, was he dead too? He couldn't be dead, it was impossible. He felt completely alive when the two women walked in and sent the Dementors away.

"Am I dead? Is this Heaven?" Harry asked.

"If you want it to be. My friends and I have made it our heaven. Percival and Galahad have made it their heaven, and just recently I made it mine too. If you wish it, it can be your heaven."

"Why am I here?" Harry asked again.

"Your magical core was exhausted, just like the others were. My son may be an exemplary wizard and Dark Lord hunter, but he is not invincible, at least as he much as he wishes he was. Same with that old fool Dumbledore." Urien replied.

"So because my magical core was exhausted, I almost died?"

"Almost is the operant word there. You didn't die, but here is where you can choose if you do. I didn't have a choice in the matter, my immortality was taken away from me by the Astrals. You should go back, Lord Potter. This isn't your place."

"Do you know who those two women were, Sir Urien?" 

"The oldest one was my wife, Celestine Kenway-Urien. The youngest one with her is my youngest daughter, Lunafreya. They came at just the right time as well, milord, otherwise those Dementors would have killed you all." 

"All of us? Even Dumbledore?" Harry asked.

"Even Dumbledore." 

Harry would have been shocked if Dumbledore has ended up kicking the bucket, although he usually looked like he would die at any point due to old age. He would have felt even worse if Harry had ended up failing to defend his friends and ended up getting them killed due to his own lack of skill or inability.

"Did anyone die?"

"Thankfully no. You've all probably got a bad case of hypothermia however if you spent that much time around so many Dementors." Urien quipped with a smirk.

Harry was still trying to wrap his head around how he had come to be talking to a Knight of the Round Table. It baffled him, but Harry had stopped questioning things as usually it could not be explained.

"Listen to me, Harry. You are needed back in the world, and you cannot stay here forever as much as I love your company. I wish I could come back and make up for my mistakes and train you, alas it is not to be. However, I can give you The Mark of Astrals."

Beri"The Mark of Astrals?"

"Yes," Urien began. "The Mark is what was given to me to make me immortal. Obviously it will not be the same to you, as the Mark is different for all who have it. For me it gave me my immortality and wizarding abilites."

Harry could feel a small burning feeling on his right hand. He looked at it to see a small amount of black ink scouring his hand and forming a small oddly shaped shooting star surrounding a sharp sword. He could feel it burn into his flesh and he had to contain himself from grunting and whining in pain as it burned into the palm of his hand.

"That hurt more than I thought it would." Harry remarked.

"So did I, when I first received it milord." Regis replied.

"Why do you keep calling me Lord? You don't have to do it any more, it should be me."

"You're Lord Potter, which makes you my liege lord. I only do what you tell me to do, but then again, I was never for it. I never wanted to be a servant when I was a young man, my hubris brought my first defeat, and I was made into a vassal for your house by… I believe it was your great great great great grandfather Beric Potter that beat me. For that, I swore my sword and my house into service of House Potter."

"How long ago was that?" Harry asked.

"Centuries ago, just after the death of King Arthur. I say just, it was not. Even then it was a few decades afterwards." 

"How long have you been living, may I ask? Can you even remember?" Harry asked Urien.

"I was born on the solstice of 495, and I became a knight at the tender age of twenty-four. When King Arthur died at Camlaan during 533 I must have been in my thirties. After that, I don't know. I've been here since a short while after the beginning of this beautiful world, and I have seen some of the wonders that it has to show. However, I've seen some of the things that make this world evil, and horrible, and so has my son. Stick by him, and he shall guide you throughout the perilous times ahead."

"Could he train me to use the Mark?" Harry asked once again.

"That is something you will have to do on your own, my lord." 

Edric looked at his hand and could see it began to disappear, and then more of his body. "It seems our time is coming to an end. I bid you goodbye, and good luck in the times ahead, Lord Harry."

"It was nice to finally meet you, Lord Urien."

"And to you too, Lord Potter."

 _ **X-X-X**_

Harry awoke with a smile, and looking at his hand he realised that the Mark was still etched into his skin. He had more power than ever before, and if he had the Mark of the Astrals, he'd have to find out how to use the power he now had.

He looked to his left, and he could see a tired Dumbledore standing vigilant over Harry, with a black dog sitting next to him, whining. Harry knew it had to be Sirius in his animagus form, but he didn't say anything lest he risk his godfather's life. The older man had a small smile on his face as

he looked at Harry who was beginning to stir.

"Hello, Lord Potter." Dumbledore said.

"You can call me Harry, professor, I'm still a student and I'm not a Lord yet."

"I know, but I shall do everything within my power to allow it to happen. I believe you already know what happened at Gringotts." Dumbledore whispered, with a grim look.

"The Potter accounts. You took money from them without my consent."

"Allow me to explain. I find that you'll have allowed me to do it anyway. After Voldemort's demise, many of the Death Eaters began to use every defence in the book to avoid being sentenced to death or life in Azkaban. Some of them escaped from justice, like Lucius Malfoy and others, but some of them were imprisoned. We had to use every kind of trick to get them in their as well, and it included bribery. Tell me Harry, do you know anything about an individual named Bellatrix Lestrange?"

"Yes," Harry began. "She was the one who tortured Neville's parents, wasn't she?"

"She was not the only one. Another one, Barty Crouch Jr. also took part and was arrested during the war." Dumbledore responded.

"What does it have to do with my money being used, professor?"

"Without the money, we would not have had a single one of them sent to Azkaban. Some of the money was from Arthur Urien, who was involved as a teenager until his father found out. Without Arthur, we had no funding, and the only way forward was to use your parents' vault."

Harry listened with interest, and although the dog beside the headmaster was growling sometimes and occasionally whining, Harry managed to listen enough for Dumbledore explain the reasoning of why he used the accounts like he did. It soon became apparent that the magical government was extremely corrupt, and that money was needed to make any leeway in the Wizengamot.

"I… I understand, professor." 

Dumbledore smiled, a true and proper smile that was fit for the eccentric old headmaster. Harry had a new found respect for him, and could see him helping Harry through thick and thin, at least that was what Harry could tell.

"Now then, I have a school to run, but I believe that you have some visitors."

"How many, sir?"

"Only four, it seems."

As soon as Dumbledore had finished speaking, three children and one adult walked through the door to the hospital. Harry could recognise all four of them. Daphne, Neville, Cedric and the older woman from before had entered. The older woman cast a few privacy charms before speaking.

"You must be who my son keeps writing to me about. I must say, I do not see many children performing fully fledged corporeal patronuses. How long did it take you to practice that?"

"A few weeks, with Professor Urien's help obviously. Maybe some help from Daphne as well."

Daphne blushed, and the older woman began to talk again. "I am..." She began.

"Celestine Kenway-Urien. Professor Urien's mother. Nice to meet you." 

Celestine's eyes widened as she shook Harry's cold hand. She had a firm hand shake, and she looked a lot younger than Harry thought she would be. Cedric and Neville gave a small hug to their best friend before taking a seat next to Harry. The dog seemed to gravitate towards Daphne, who began to stroke the dog. Sirius seemed to be liking the extra attention if the look on his dog-face was anything.

"Nice to meet you too, Lord Potter."

"Harry, please. I'm not a lord yet."

"Please, if Dumbledore gets his way you will be soon." Celestine began. "It seems you have a Lady Potter as well if the blushing girl behind me is anything worth investigating." 

"It's a possibility, Lady Urien." Harry replied with a smile.

"Please, I'm not Lady Urien any more. My idiot son has never prioritised his love-life, although I may have to fix that soon if he doesn't do it himself."

Harry had to laugh, and he began to wander what it must have been like to have a mother like Celestine. She seemed to be the complete opposite from Edric, and seemed to be a lot more agreeable.

"I see you have the Mark."

"The Mark? I must have got it when I was asleep." Harry spoke. "I don't know how it happened but I can feel it right now." 

"You met my husband didn't you?" Celestine asked, straight to the point.

"Yes, for a short while." Harry replied.

"Did he… did he say anything about me? About his children?"

Harry didn't know what to say, but it was clear that the woman in front of him was still grieving for her husband and even possibly her children. Harry had never been a good liar, but he had to do something to raise her spirits at least.

"Yes." 

It was a lie, a white lie to make Celestine feel better. Harry never lied, but he had to do it for her. He never wished harm or meant to hurt anyone unless they did something to help or happened to be named Draco Malfoy. He had lied, but he had lied for her.

 _ **X-X-X**_

It had not taken long for some of the visitors to leave. Neville and Celestine had been the first two to leave, and then it left Cedric who was still split between deciding who to let adopt him. Harry offered some advice and pushed Cedric to go towards Arthur. It was something that Cedric deserved, and he was a good lad. Better than Harry, that was for sure.

It just left Daphne and Harry sitting next to each other, mostly in silence but was occasionally interrupted by small talk and some coughs or sneezes. Soon, Daphne ended up being the one to break the silence.

"Why did you do it?" She asked.

"Do what?"

"Kiss me by the lake. Why did you kiss me by the Black Lake, Harry Potter?" 

"Because I thought it would be funny. I know how you don't like being spoken to like some kind of object, so I thought it would be funny because I wanted to see you react and hopefully not get my tool frozen, unlike Malfoy."

"So to get a reaction, you kissed me on the cheek?" Daphne asked, hoping for confirmation.

"Yes. Why did you kiss me back?"

"What?" Daphne recoiled.

"What do you mean 'what?' Are you denying that you kissed me back?" 

"Yes!" Daphne squealed. "I did not kiss you back!" 

"Yes you did. You said and I quote: 'If you're gonna do that, at least do it right'. And after you said it, you kissed me!"

Daphne was silent, and her face was almost frozen in horror. Had she really gone and kissed Harry Potter, the Gryffindor Golden Boy and the Boy-Who-Lived? Why had she gone and done that? Harry had to be lying, he had to be pulling her chain. He had to be!

"You're lying." Daphne said.

"I'm not." Harry quickly replied. "You kissed me after I came back from Gringotts with Professor Urien. I was sat by the Black Lake and you came by and kissed me before the curfew. I'm not lying."

Daphne seemed to be horrified at the news. If anything, Harry could understand. Daphne would be shredded by her fellow Slytherins if she was ever caught kissing Harry, and Harry would never wish such a thing on anyone, especially by Draco and the Slytherins.

"Did it mean anything?" Daphne asked.

"Did what mean anything?" 

"Did when we kiss, on the lips, mean anything to you?" Daphne asked.

Harry sighed before he spoke. "Yes."

He heard Daphne sigh before she walked out of the room, with her Ice Queen facade ready to be seen by the masses. Harry didn't know how to react to her, but he already knew that once the truth came out, both of them were going to be lashed, by Gryffindors and Slytherins.

Harry groaned before lying back down in his bed and going to sleep with thoughts of him and Daphne going down the drain when he woke up.

 _ **X-X-X**_

Arthur was set in his office. Buckbeak was free, and Onyx had gone along with the great hippogriff to wherever the hybrid bird had taken them. The padding of Onyx's paws and his mewls and whines were missed by both Arthur and Pincher, who was in silent remembrance of his missing animal comrade.

Arthur had a quill in his hand, and was scrawling down paragraphs quickly onto a piece of paper. He had been creating drafts of the letter he wrote since he got to Hogwarts, and had finally created what he considered the best letter. He signed the letter and began to sound it out to make sure it sounded good.

" _To my dearest sister, Guinevere._

 _It is my duty to inform you, as the Lord of House Urien, that father has passed away. This letter will have gotten to you months late, mainly due to my teaching at Hogwarts and my constant recreation of the letter you are reading right now._

 _Father left his will in his office, and I was shocked to see what was written down. He apologises to each and every one of us, including you. His will stated that it was my duty to bring you back into the family. I am not doing this for my duty, it is anything but. I am doing this as it is my wish, as your youngest brother to come back to Reddington Manor._

 _We all miss you. I miss you, Mother misses you, and I don't think you have ever met Lunafreya. After you left, Mother gave birth to another girl, another sister for you and me. I will beg and plead for you to come back to us if I have to, but come back to the house. Come back to us._

 _If you receive this letter and still do not want to come back to the House of Urien, then I will not blame you for it. You have been exiled by the former lord, and it was the worst moment for all of us when it happened. Well, as the new Lord of House Urien, I deem you no longer an exile of the house and you are welcome to return whenever you want._

 _I love you, and I hope to see you back soon._

 _Arthur Noctis Urien, Lord of House Reddington."_

Arthur folded the letter and handed it to Pincher, who carried it with his two tiny claws. The raven flew off almost immediately, and left Arthur on his own. Arthur began to relax into the leather chair, and soon fell asleep, hopeful that his long lost sister would respond.

 _ **X-X-X**_

 _ **Please favourite, follow, and review!**_

 _ **~The One Italian Stallion~**_


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19: The End of the Year

It had already been a few days since Arthur had finally sent the letter to his sister, Guinevere. Arthur had already lost count of the years, maybe even decades they had not talked to each other. He hoped it would soon change, that he could finally bring Guinevere back, that he could make the House of the Urien whole once more. It had been something playing on his mind for a while, something that needed to be done and would hopefully be done soon.

"And hopefully you will reply soon. I wouldn't wish Pincher on anyone else for an extended period of time." Arthur muttered.

He twirled one wand in his hand and fiddled with the other in his holster. The ebony wand seemed to glint off the sunlight entering the room through the window. The tip was cold, and it surprised Arthur considering how much he had cast just a few days ago. Usually it would be glowing right afterwards, but it didn't seem to do so. He wished he wasn't so anti-social, so he could talk to people his own age and have friends. Then he realised he didn't have friends, he was too busy training or dealing with the family or businesses.

But some businesses were worth losing friends over.

The wand-makers in Japan were some of the best ones in the world, especially the ones that used the illegal cores. The lengthy box that sat on Arthur's desk in front of him was one that had been imported from Japan a few days ago. There was an exotic looking owl sitting on his desk, with the box beside it. It hooted a little before flying off to wherever it lived. Arthur had opened the white box that sat on the desk to find exactly what he had ordered.

Sometimes he wished some cores weren't illegal (at least in Britain anyway).

Inside of the box lay a rare custom wand from Japan. Masaru Enatsu was a master craftsmen and sometimes went past the laws to create some of his masterpieces. The wand in front of him was a rare creation, the shining white aspen wood with intricate carvings of a certain stag which also doubled as the sigil of House Potter, and the carving of an eagle to its side. The sigils of Potter and Urien, a creation to honour their friendship and alliance. Arthur holstered his ebony wand and picked up the white wand.

The structure of wand was different. It wasn't straight or blunted at the tip, but instead it was curved and at the tip was a little spike. At the hilt and handhold of the wand, a few small tentacles appeared to erupt and looked like they were waving around in the air. The core was a kraken heartstring, and intertwined with the aspen wood it made a rather powerful wand. It had cost a fortune to create and to have imported, but Arthur could afford it. As much as he enjoyed having a varied collection of weapons, he had his trusty ebony wand, and that was all he needed to be dangerous.

"Lets just hope that Harry likes it." He mumbled and slouched into his chair.

Moments later, the patronus of a phoenix flew into his office, and the wizened voice of Dumbledore ordered the professor to the headmaster's office. Arthur placed the wand in the box and placed the box into his jacket coat. He strolled through the halls and he could tell that the atmosphere around the school was a lot better since his mother and sister had arrived and drove the Dementors away. The demons seemed to drive everyone down, almost to an unrealistic state. Arthur himself had begun to get used to the way that they wandered through the air, but he would never get used to feeling what it was like to be attacked by one of them.

He shivered at the thought of it. The year itself was grim just thinking of how much he had been exposed to them the night of the attack on the Gryffindor Tower. He would never forget the screech from the Dementor that was impaled by Harry's stag. He swore it was one of the more amazing things he had seen in his life. He didn't even know that Dementors could die, he didn't even know if that was possible, but that one Dementor would not be tormenting anyone after being stabbed by a stag.

Arthur soon reached the gargoyles that guarded the office of Dumbledore, and after speaking the password, Arthur quickly made his way up to the office and met the group that seemed to discussing what was happening with the Sirius/Pettigrew situation. Dumbledore and Fudge seemed to be arguing, the two Aurors were quiet and they seemed to be waiting for Arthur to join them. Finally, Sirius and Pettigrew were tied up and bound so neither of them could escape.

"That's it! I will not tolerate this any longer! You've undermined my authority for long enough, and I will have order in my country! Sirius Black will be sent to Azkaban and Pettigrew will be freed!"

"It seems that you've started without me, like always. Fudge, how horrible to see you again. Shame about the hippogriff, I heard that Macnair was looking forward to killing it, I don't feel sorry for Death Eaters." Arthur said as he announced his arrival.

Fudge turned to find the young professor behind him. "Mr. Macnair is a loyal servant of the Ministry! How dare you call him a terrorist!"

"Former terrorist, probably soon to be terrorist again at some point." Sirius muttered.

"Silence! Lord Urien, you were the one to finally apprehend Lord Black a few nights ago, is that true?" Fudge asked.

"Yes, I was." 

"And did he reveal to you that he betrayed the Potters and gave them away to Voldemort?" 

"No Minister, no he did not." 

"And you're completely sure of that? You were not compelled in any way to lie about what you just said?" Fudge asked again. 

"Of course I'm bloody sure. Get the man out of those binds."

The two aurors stepped forward and were about to untie Sirius until Fudge ordered them back. He seemed to be unconvinced of Arthur's testiment, and he generally hated Dumbledore as he was the only threat to his job as Minister. He needed actual evidence of the night when Sirius and Arthur confronted each other.

"You have proof of this?" Cornelius began.

"Of course I do, Sirius took an unbreakable, and he's still here. I can show you in the pensieve if you need some actual visual evidence." Arthur replied.

"That would be very good."

Dumbledore led the group of men around the pensieve, and the clear liquid inside seemed to swirl with white as the memories of Dumbledore flew around in the liquid. Cornelius Fudge looked deeper into the pensieve as Arthur placed his wand against his head and drew the memory out. They began to focus more on that memory as they found themselves in the Shrieking Shack, with three children behind the group of four men as they all ended up holding hands with Sirius Black.

" _Do you, Sirius Black, swear on your life and on your magic, that you never betrayed James and Lily Potter to the man known as the Dark Lord Voldemort?" Dumbledore asked._

" _I do. I swear on my life and magic that I never betrayed James and Lily to him." Gold swirled all around the pair and Sirius remained standing, still alive._

 _Dumbledore let go of Sirius, and then Arthur took Sirius' hands next, and seemed to wrap his hand around the convict as if he were some kind of snake that was coiling up, ready to strike._

" _Do you, Sirius Black, swear on your life and magic that you never took the Dark Mark, never betrayed the Potters, and never betrayed the Order of the Phoenix to Voldemort or any other men and women who call themselves the Death Eaters?" Arthur inquired._

" _I swear that on my life and magic that I never took the Dark Mark, betrayed the Potters or betrayed the Order of the Phoenix to Voldemort or the Death Eaters." Again, a golden flash of light and Sirius was still standing._

 _Arthur smiled, and patted Sirius on the back. Remus was next, and he had tears in his eyes as he finally began to realise that his friend would soon be freed of his status as a convict._ _He took Sirius' hand and swallowed a breath before beginning to speak._

" _Do you, Sirius Black, swear on your life and magic that it was Peter Pettigrew, who betrayed the Order of the Phoenix, and that he was the man who betrayed James and Lily Potter to Voldemo_ _rt?"_ _Remus questioned._

" _I swear, that on my very life and magic that it was not me that betrayed the Potters. I swear that on my life and magic that it was Peter Pettigrew_ _that betrayed them to Voldemort and the Death Eaters."  
_

 _A final golden swirl flew around the four men_ _and Sirius still stood tall. The clearly malnourished was crying as he let go of his friends hang and wrapped him in the tightest hug that Cornelius had ever seen._

The four men were soon pulled out from the memory by the two aurors and Cornelius seemed to be a little bit more pale than normal. He walked over to Pettigrew and tore the sleeve of the coat he wore, exposing the faded moving mark of the skull and snake, the Dark Mark. Cornelius Fudge had never been more angry.

"To think we thought of you as a hero, that you were a man that fought against He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. We thought you died as a man, fighting against someone even worse, a traitor. Disgusting, it brings dishonour upon my name, your name and the image of the Wizarding World. I wish I never said the things I said years ago, I know them now to be false. You shall be sentenced to death by the Kiss, and everyone shall know your guilt." Cornelius spoke.

"Not for long!" Pettigrew replied. "He's coming back, he always does! He'll come back and take over! He shall return and kill all of you! He shown me the way! He shown me what is wrong with this world, and it needs to be fixed!"

Pettigrew tried to stand, and to his effort he did, but his stout and barrel-like frame made him more humorous than threatening. His nails were sharp, almost looking like the claws of a wild animal than the nails of a human. His hair was overgrown, and in some spots he looked like he was beginning to go bald. He may have been good with a wand, but clearly he was not as good as four combined, and that was why he was stuck in the headmaster's office, ready to be taken to Azkaban.

Beside him was Sirius Black, his former friend and companion. To think that Sirius could have been with someone like him, someone who could have betrayed Lily and James. He should have known what had happened when he had gone missing for ages and then turned up out of the blue. He was the Death Eater spy, he was a Death Eater and he betrayed the Order, betrayed his friends, betrayed James and Lily and Harry. To say that Sirius wanted to hurt Pettigrew was an understatement.

He wanted to murder him, he wanted to do what the newspapers had said he done to the man. He wanted to obliterate him, to tear him apart and leave nothing left of him. He would not have to do that, the public would do it for him.

"Lord Black, please rise." Cornelius ordered. "It is of my deepest sincerity, and my deepest regret that I imprisoned you. There was barely any proof of you doing it, and we never bothered to check if you were innocent or not. I can only offer my apologies until we exonerate you and imprison Pettigrew. After that however, we can give you back your titles and properties. You shall become the Lord of House Black once more." 

Sirius quickly responded. "I'm not worried about the lordship or my property. I'm meant to be Harry's guardian. I want to look after him, in my home. I want to raise him as Lily and James would have." 

"And you shall. We shall drop any cases we have immediately to make up for the massive miscarriage of justice done to you. You shall also be reimbursed with compensation for your false imprisonment, as an apology of course." Fudge replied. 

"Tell me where I'm staying, because I will not be staying in my Azkaban suite another minute."

"Wherever you would like, perhaps one of your own properties? I shall write to the goblins to allow them to give you access to the vaults again. For now, however, we shall be taking this rat to the Ministry. I shall write to you myself, Lord Black. For now, it is goodbye." 

The Minister and the Aurors left with Pettigrew in tow. The four men still left in the room stood in silence as they realised that Sirius Black was now essentially free. The man was clearly still in a state, but somehow Arthur had no doubt that Sirius would have no problem getting himself back to a healthy weight.

"Thirteen years..." 

"It's over now, Padfoot." Remus replied. "You are free now, we are free. Harry is ours now, we can look after him. Look after him like James and Lily would have wanted."

"I know, but what of us? I'm not in the best shape. Azkaban… it does things to you..." 

"What do you mean, Sirius?" Arthur asked.

"It drains the life out of you, destroys any hope or happiness. The Dementors thrive off it, live off of destroying any happiness. Enough exposure to the Dementors and soon, your body just begins to turn off. I can't..." 

"Can't..." Remus tried to get an answer out of him. 

"I won't be able to have children. I was there for so long, and I can still remember when it happened. There was just a certain feeling, you can't forget it. Azkaban ruined me, and it was all because of that rat and the fucking Minister!" Sirius exclaimed.

There was another silence in the room, brought on by Sirius' sudden outburst of anger and frustration. They all understood why Sirius was angry, but he would have to continue his life. Maybe after the war was done, they could rest, they could recover. Before that, they had an invisible war to win. Arthur would join it, the House of Urien refused to be neutral when people begin to murder each other for reasons as petty as blood.

"We shall recover. We always do, when Voldemort reveals himself again, we shall beat him." Arthur began. "We cannot let him and his type win. They believe in supremacy and superiority of something as inconsequential as blood. Sirius, we will need your help. Will you help us?" 

It took a little while, but Sirius nodded and looked at the youngest man in the room. "I shall." 

_**X-X-X**_

Harry was sat in the main hall, ready for the food to be set out all along the tables. It was a good time for him, he had a guardian. He had people who wanted to care for him, he wanted to raise him and treat him like an actual human being, unlike the Dursleys. Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and Arthur Urien would help him, raise him, train him to fight back against the man who had killed his parents and ruined his life.

He sat quietly, with Hermione and Neville at his side. He was not allowed to go to the other tables for the final feast of the year. Hermione had almost instantly spotted the mark on his arm. She had asked constantly of what it was, and had cursed the little time she had to find whatever the mark was. It was not paint or ink, but she definitely had not caught on that it was burnt and etched into Harry's skin.

Neville seemed to smile as he caught sight of the mark, and patted him on the shoulder with a smirk on his face. Hermione tried to worm an answer from Neville about what the mark was, but it was to no avail as the two boys stayed silent. Some of the other Gryffindors leered at Harry, some sneering like Ron and his own friends. Harry wished Ron would just say sorry, and then he could too, but it seemed like it would never happen. It was a mere pipe-dream, an illusion of something that Harry wished dearly for. Ron was his best mate, his closest friend and confidant. It hurt Harry knowing that Ron thought ill of him, and he could not blame him. It was both of their faults, Harry for expecting Ron to cater to his every need and follow him around like a lost puppy; and Ron for being stubborn enough to not see that Harry was sorry for that and not apologising.

"You need to ignore them, Harry." Hermione whispered over to him.

"I know, 'Mione. It's just that he was my best mate..." 

"We all know he was your best mate, but best mates don't do this kind of thing to each other do they?" Neville interjected, asking Harry.

"No." 

"Well then, if Ron can't see that you're sorry, then there's no point trying to explain it to him if he can't see it himself. If he was a proper Gryffindor, then he'd have the courage to face you and apologise." Hermione interrupted.

Harry knew they were both right. If Ron honestly cared about their friendship, he would be the one to open the dialogue between them. Although Harry had done wrong, he should not have been the one to beg and plead for forgiveness. No, definitely not him. If anything, Ron should have been thanking him for keeping him safe from the Dementors the previous nights before. Ron should have been thanking a lot of people, especially the teachers. He knew that some of the others had thanked them, some of them even thanked Harry and Daphne. Daphne seemed to take it in her stride but Harry simply blustered an 'it was nothing' and continued to the hall where he was now sat.

Harry never even noticed that his gaze had turned to the beautiful Slytherin that he was pining over.

"Harry, you're staring again." Hermione remarked.

"She knows I like her as well."

"Everyone knows it at this point, most of the Gryffindors spread it round that you might as well have been her knight in shining armour." Neville said.

"Yep, I know that, Nev. She probably hates me for that too, to be honest." Harry replied despondently.

"Somehow I doubt that, Harry. You defended her from the Dementors, if that was any other girl then they'd be all over you." Neville quickly responded.

"Yeah, well they wanted the Boy-Who-Lived, not the Harry Potter. It's different, Daphne doesn't want either." 

Harry continued to mewl and whine for a little while more, his unrequited love being attended to by Neville, Hermione and some of the other Gryffindors that weren't exactly friendly with Ron.

 _ **X-X-X**_

Daphne was sat across the room, in some vain attempt to keep out of Harry's sight. He'd caught sight of her sooner than she had anticipated, and it soon became apparent that he still felt hurt from what she had said to him in the hospital wing. She didn't mean to say it like she did, she never really wanted to hurt him. They were actually decent friends, but it just happened to be that Daphne was raised differently to him. She knew she'd probably put in an arranged marriage at some point, even if she did try and avoid it and Harry would probably be distracted by other more prettier and better-looking girls than her.

"He's still staring you know?" Tracey spoke, her finger circling

"I know, and I wish he wouldn't. He'll make it worse for himself." 

Daphne swore that she never meant to hurt to Harry. Immediately after she left Harry, she had gone to see Arthur, and she almost broke down in tears. She felt at least some kind of gratitude towards Harry, without him she would never have made a patronus and without him she would have succumbed to the Dementors. She owed him, and she'd gone and thrown it into his face.

She didn't even know why she'd said what she had. She had never forgot what had happened, it had been on her mind ever since it had happened. The day they found Sirius Black was also the day she had meant to talk to Harry about it. She would have handled it better then, where she would have let him down gently and they would have been friends.

Yet it seemed like she could not have even done that.

"It's not your..." Tracey tried to say, only to be stopped by Daphne.

"It is. It is my fault, it would not have been hard to say that I was not interested. Obviously I would not have said it like that and let him down easier but I couldn't. As soon as we get there, we go on an adventure to save a damned bird! Then we end up finding _Sirius bloody Black_ and then..." 

It took Daphne a few more seconds to realise that she had gone and said what she never wanted to say. Tracey looked horrified to say the least, but Daphne was thankful that the rest of the hall had never heard her speak. She was not even allowed to even speak the name after the incident in the Gryffindor Tower but it seemed like she could not even do that.

"You're going to be telling me everything over the holidays, you know that?" Tracey said with a smirk.

"I know..." Daphne sighed, and immediately felt like slamming her head into the table.

Daphne felt as if she had already ruined everything that year, for herself and for Harry. She destroyed him at the end of the year when he should have been ecstatic to have someone in the magical world looking after him, but then she went and destroyed his hopes of having her be his girlfriend. Then she had gone and told Tracey about it.

It could not have gotten any worse.

That was when Dumbledore, Arthur, Remus and Sirius Black marched into the hall.

 _ **X-X-X**_

There was a rather large collection of gasps and deep breathes. Dumbledore had gotten used to it, but he had a decent reason to believe that it was because of the now exonerated Sirius Black behind him, not in chains and smiling as if he were the happiest man in the world.

He could see Harry's face lighten up dramatically. The mere sight of Sirius seemed to brighten the young boy's face, and he kept an intense look as he watched the group of wizards go to the head table, where Sirius took a seat right next to Arthur and Remus. Dumbledore did not sit down right away however, and he immediately took to his podium to begin the end of year speech.

"Well, another year has come to an end. Like every year, a simply extraordinary event has occurred, and it effects a very special person in this room. At the start of the year I warned you of the Dementors that would be patrolling this school, and now I have some very good news. They shall not be returning any time soon."

There was a massive uproar of cheers and shouts of joy from the students when it was revealed that guards of Azkaban were leaving permanently.

"However, we have another surprise announcement. Also at the start of the year, it was said that the man we all know as Sirius Orion Black was an escaped criminal from Azkaban. Well, now with new evidence it seems that Lord Black here is innocent of his false crimes. In fact, he had never committed them in the first place. So, now confirmed and soon to be shown by the Ministry of Magic is the recently released, Sirius Black!"

 _ **X-X-X**_

It had been a few days since the last feast, and for some it was more emotional than others. Arthur knew it rather well. Harry and Sirius and Remus had been spending time together most of the time, bonding like any normal family should. Cedric had finally decided and was willing to be adopted by the House of Urien, becoming Cedric Urien.

The two had to admit, the name had a good ring to it.

Arthur had managed to give Harry his wand before being taken back to Diagon Alley by Remus and Sirius. Arthur didn't know how they getting there, but it didn't matter. Hopefully Harry would write to him over the holidays and Arthur would see how Harry liked his wand. Yet Arthur was more looking forward to seeing how Cedric would mix with the rest of the family, he had met them at the school, but had not talked to them yet, at least not properly.

He had not seen Daphne, but something told him that she was going through some kind of tough time and he should not interfere. It was something Cyrus and Ophelia Greengrass, Daphne's parents would have to deal with.

As Arthur took a seat on the Hogwarts Express, Cedric took the seat opposite to him and laid his bag down on the seat, using it as a pillow. The young boy covered his face with a book and soon began to snore somewhat quietly. Arthur could not help but smile at the sight, he was helping the boy. The boy would have a family, and although it may not have been his blood family, it was better than whoever the Ministry would have given him to.

Arthur was about to go to sleep as well until he heard a familiar cawing coming from just outside the train. He opened the window and the familiar black wings of Pincher swooped in and perched on the table by the window. Arthur quickly closed the window again to get rid of the overload of noise and seen the small letter on the table.

It had a familiar stamp on it, the grey squared shield with a green spider imprinted on it. Arthur unfolded the letter and smiled when he read it, and even began to laugh quietly as he read the name of the author of the letter.

"Seems like things get better and better..." Arthur said, holding the letter to his chest and falling asleep on the train.

He held the letter tightly, never letting go of it even when he fell asleep. The little piece of parchment seemed to slip out of his grasp however, and the letter seemed to reveal the name of the author just so slightly.

 _Guinevere Urien_


	20. A Quick Note

**A QUICK NOTE:**

 **THE SEQUEL TO THIS STORY IS NOW BEGINNING. THE TITLE IS 'THE LOST KNIGHT OF THE TABLE' AND IS MY RENDITION OF 'GOBLET OF FIRE'**

 **I KNOW I'M LATE**

 **I AM SO SORRY!**

 **PLEASE FORGIVE ME!**

 **-AN OLD BOY**


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